The Curious and the Shiny (OLD VERSION)
by NebulaDreams
Summary: This version of the fic is unpolished and outdated, so if you want to check out an improved version of the story with more lore, tightening up prose and improved story elements, check out the New Game Plus edition above.
1. Dendemille's Daredevil

**The Chase Arc**

 _"Photography is truth. And cinema is truth 24 frames a second." - Le Petit Soldat_

On their computer screen, Shine the Luxray and his trainer Tony browsed through a folder of archived photos, footage and interviews from their documentary in the making. One clip featured a gathering of Pokémon playing in what appeared to be a garden. Another focused on one Kadabra in a small cabin, reading through a multitude of levitating books in a matter of minutes. Another was just pure grey as smoke covered the camera. When he saw that, Shine's eye widened.

"Can you play that from the beginning?" Shine said in human tongue, his voice as certain and clear as a gentleman's.

Tony clicked the backwards button, which resumed at the start of the fight. The two Pokémon were in a featureless room, facing each other in a battle stance as a security camera watched from above. As Shine remembered, off-screen, there was an audience of staff members taking notes from behind a pane of glass in another room.

The Rapidash started galloping towards the Lucario, who weaved and jumped from place to place in an effort to avoid its opponent's attacks. The Lucario tried to stop to charge up an aura sphere, but kept having to cancel it each time the Rapidash attacked. Then it looked to its side and smiled. It ran outside the camera's view and when it came back into the frame, it was holding a fire extinguisher. The Lucario aimed the nozzle at the Rapidash's face and shot a blast of carbon dioxide at it, filling up the entire room with gas.

Shine chuckled to himself, remembering the day Curio, the Lucario featured in the video, got a severe telling off from one of the directors of the GeL project in front of Shine's group. Although he had buried so many other memories from his days at GeL, that one stuck in his mind as one particularly pleasant memory out of a lot of painful ones. Then, he thought of Curio again, and balanced on his hindpaws to reach over to the desk.

"Is there any more footage of her?" Shine asked. Tony patted his head.

"Sadly not, I'm afraid," Tony said, "The guy I got this from said this was all he had, save for one photo with you in it as well."

"Can you go back to that, please?"

Tony nodded and switched the screen over to a sheet of photos featuring mugshots of the 18 Pokémon involved in the project against a featureless background. Beside the 16 other Pokémon, there was him in his Shinx form looking afraid, and there was Curio in her Riolu form sticking her tongue out at the camera.

An awkward silence filled the room. Tony sighed and rubbed Shine's ears, looking at him with a grimaced face.

"Sorry Shine. I know this isn't an awful lot to work with and I know how much you miss all of the friends you made there."

Shine shook his head.

"It's not that, mostly. I just wonder what happened to them after the rest of us escaped. I saw Pecha escape, and who knows, she might be doing well outside, but Curio..."

Shine looked over at Curio's mugshot again and started to feel his eye mist up.

"I don't even know if she's still alive. Whenever I think back to that day, I just think what I did was terrible. I just—"

"Hey there." Tony knelt down to Shine's level from the chair and stroked his mane. The two locked eyes with each other. Shine felt a hot streak of tears trail down the fur of his cheek. Tony smiled and leaned in to hug him.

"I believe you did the right thing if it meant saving your own hide."

"But that's the problem!" Shine heard his voice crack. "If I left her behind and it turned out she died, I wouldn't forgive myself!"

"It's a difficult situation, Shine. Just don't blame yourself for what happened, okay?"

"I'll try."

"Good." Tony broke his embrace and pressed a button on the computer, shutting it down. "I think we'll call it a day now. I'll start editing this once I get back from work tomorrow and hopefully I can spin something from it." He got up from the chair and stretched his arms. "Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

Shine sniffled and wiped away his tears. "No."

"In that case, do you think you can pick a few things up for us from the shop? Feel free to get something extra, okay?"

Shine nodded and padded over to his bed, curling up inside of it. "Thanks."

And so, the two settled down early that night as Shine understood Tony had a tiring day. Shine himself dwelt on the thoughts that troubled him earlier, which eventually revolved around Curio.

On the off chance that Curio was still alive, he thought, what would she be doing? Would she have planned to explore the world like she said? Was she getting on fine in the wild despite her sheltered upbringing? Did she meet her family again?  
After a while, his thoughts subsided and he fell asleep, putting them at the back of his head until the next time he would have to confront his past.

It was Monday the next day, and it was time again for Shine to run his errands while Tony was at work, getting some extra sweets and a copy of The Regional Roundup for himself on the way. Shine came back to the apartment and dropped off the items in the kitchen. Then he heard a tap on the window above. Bauble, he thought.

Making sure not to knock anything over, Shine climbed over the worktop and padded carefully to the windowsill where Bauble waited outside on the railing. She was a Murkrow with a red string anklet above her foot, and stood in the sunshine where it illuminated her black plumage. She tilted her head to the handle of the window and cawed through the glass. He stood on his hindlegs, trying his best to open the window without Tony's assistance. He managed, but a pot had to be sacrificed in the process. The window wasn't wide enough for her to fly in through, but they could hear each other clearly now that way. She smiled.

"Why Shine, it's a beautiful day, isn't it? I bet your collar will look ever so shiny outside!"

"Not planning on stealing it again, are you?" Shine said.

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it'll look so much better out here than in the indoor shade, won't it?"

Shine let out a sigh. "Alright, come up to the door."

"And you bring your paper."

With a flap of her wings, Bauble sprung up out of view from where Shine sat at the sill. Shine leapt off of the counter and exited the apartment through the door flap, picking up the newspaper on the way with his teeth. A moment later, Bauble flew down and the two made their way to one of Ambrette's many local parks. Once they reached it, Bauble flew over to a clear bench, perching on the seat. Shine ran after her and sat by the edge of the bench, dropping the roll of paper onto the pavement below. He put a paw on it to stop it blowing away in the wind.

"Go on," Bauble cawed, "What're you waiting for?"

Shine nodded and unfolded the paper, revealing the front cover.

"Whozzat?"

There was a picture of a Machoke holding up a championship belt triumphantly. Although he had no interest in sports, Shine knew him as Rex Revolver. On the top however, was the headline 'REX RETIRES!' with the caption 'Consecutive four year Machampion calls it quits!'

"He seems pretty satisfied!" Bauble said.

"He's quitting."

"Aw. Well that sucks."

"Do you want me to read on?"

"Eh, don't care for sports."

Shine leafed through the rest of the paper, trying to find something else of interest to Bauble so he could read it to her. The Pokémon related stories piqued her curiosity the most, so Shine skimmed through anything to do with human affairs. Although he was engrossed in the subject, the last time he tried to read a feature about Kalos' national debt, Bauble flew off in a huff.

The next article of interest had a picture of camera footage, with a group of Scraggy and Scrafty crowding around something in the middle. Shine read out the headings:

"The Scraggy Dilemma - Should we arrest criminal Pokémon?"

Bauble crowed in anger.

"That's the stupidest thing I've heard in a while! How's that gonna work out without it screwing up everything else? Do humans get paid to write this crap?"

"Yes, depending on whether or not they're freelance, they can either get paid for each article they write or..." Shine trailed off, realising that he was going off a tangent.

"But sometimes," Shine said, "it does amaze me that humans manage to find work doing this."

"They shouldn't be paid at all if you ask me!"

Shine brushed aside her comment and continued looking.

"Oh Shine!" Bauble said. "When can I see your film?"

Shine turned to Bauble, who looked at him expectantly.

"Probably never at this rate."

"What?" Bauble screeched, "Why not? Do you hate me?"

"Trust me, it has nothing to do with that. We've got a lot of clips but it doesn't look like we have enough to work with."

"Can't I take one little peek at it?" Bauble said, looking down at Shine with desperate eyes.

"It's not up to me, I'm afraid. It's mostly Tony's project."

"Forget Tony! Why not do it when he's out?"

Shine sighed. Perhaps he shouldn't have let it slip, he thought, but since it wouldn't do any harm...

"I'll consider it."

Bauble pouted and turned her head dismissively.

"Whatever," she said, "Continue."

"A Future Without Cars - Gogoats lead to less congestion, study finds."

"Boring," Bauble said, "Slow news day, isn't it?"

"A little," Shine muttered.

Next page.

"Dendemille's Daredevil - The Lucario Who Shook Up Dendemille Town."

"Finally," Bauble said, "something that might be interesting!"

"A Lucario was spotted climbing up Port Mill on Saturday. At daylight, the Lucario trespassed on the grounds of the mill while it was being operated and jumped onto one of the blades. Despite the complaints of a few eyewitnesses who gathered outside including the grounds-keeper Franc Lautrec, the Lucario continued to hang until the blade was level with the roof. Once up there, it stayed until one of the workers reached the roof through the indoor ladder. Before it could be caught, however, it climbed down from the roof and fled the area."

There was more to the text than that, but the more Shine read it, the more he thought of Curio. There had been numerous times in the facility where she trespassed certain areas of the buildings: the staff room, the kitchen, the vents, and an unused attic which she had shared with him and a few others as a hideout before the staff spotted them. The link between her and the Lucario featured in the writing was weak at best, but Shine knew it wasn't above Curio to climb where she wasn't allowed to, or further than that, where he thought she wasn't able to.

"Why'd you stop?"

Bauble's shrill voice snapped him out of his reverie. Flustered, he quickly looked for an excuse to his silence.

"Sorry, I'm just looking at the photo."

His eye scanned over to the picture on the right, which featured the Lucario hanging from the windmill as the writing described. On closer inspection, the Lucario's left arm looked off somehow. It wasn't the same length as the other, it didn't bend the same way grabbed onto the blade, and it had a metallic sheen to it like a jewel in the sunlight.

Shine's heart leapt in his chest. He brought himself as close to the picture as he could, checking the details of the arm multiple times to see if it really was like Curio's, and more after that, almost as if to try and prove himself wrong. But after the seventh time, there was no doubt about it. The Lucario in that picture had an artificial arm.

The Lucario in that picture was none other than Curio.

"By God's tail!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Bauble said. Shine didn't answer. Instead, he shut the pages and stuffed the newspaper in his mouth. Despite her protests, Shine made a beeline for the exit and dashed off further into town where the coast was to Tony's workplace. He didn't care how fast he was going or whether or not he accidentally bumped into things on his way.

He just had to tell Tony about Curio no matter what. He didn't slow down when he reached the cliff-side, going only by inertia. When he suddenly reached the edge of the cliff, he had to make a sharp right turn, which was hard to do with his blindside as the left of him was obscured. He ended up almost falling over the edge, kicking a few pebbles off the cliff face in the process, but staggered back to his feet and carried on his route.

Eventually, Shine reached the coast where the main part of Ambrette Town sat, and rushed past the aquarium over to the neighbouring Marine Conservation Centre, and charged through the entrance into the reception. He remembered where Tony's office was, which was by his right. Without thinking, he started to run towards the direction of the door.

"Hey hey hey!" one of the receptionists called, an unfamiliar voice of an old man. "What do you think you're doing here?!"

Shine spat the newspaper out. "Sorry, my trainer's in there, I have to speak with him!"

Shine ran towards the door, balancing himself on his hindpaws to pull the handle down, but when he did, the door wouldn't open. It was locked. Shine turned to the other direction, with a door at the far end that led to the same destination, but would've taken longer to get in. He glanced at the old man. He was practically white with confusion, mumbling to the other receptionist, who Shine knew as Ines. She wasn't overly friendly with Shine, but he was sure she would recognise him. Although every other instinct told him to run, he thought it would be best to explain his situation. He padded over to the desk, balanced on his tip-toes and locked eyes with Ines, who gave him a serious gaze.

"Shine, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Why?"

"Everyone in the back including Tony is busy taking care of something important, and we're just as tied up. They can't have anybody else coming in no matter what for the whole day."

"But-"

She braced herself and retracted a Pokeball from her belt, holding it towards Shine.

"I said you can't come in no matter what. If you don't leave, you'll have to answer to Ignis."

It was a bitter pill for him to swallow, but Shine took a deep breath and relaxed his stance. He didn't want to have to cause a scene and deal with her Delphox, of all things.

"Can you at least pass a message to him for me?"

She lowered her Pokeball, but didn't change her expression otherwise.

"Make it quick."

Shine rushed over to where he dropped the newspaper and picked it back up, propping it onto Ines' desk.

"Tell him to read page 12."

"I'll see if I have time to. Now scram."

He walked out of the centre, feeling the urge to run even more than he was used to. The experience left him with a pang of pent-up energy, as he couldn't tell Tony about it. He ran aimlessly across the beach which seemed to stretch on for ages. Once he reached the edge where the tide came in, he went back and ran another lap, and another, but it still didn't sate the excitement within him.

Curio was back. After five years of waiting and not knowing of her whereabouts, she was alive and making just as much mischief as she did back then. He would have so much to tell her, about his journey once he escaped from GeL and how he met Tony. She would have a lot to tell him as well, but the most burning question on his mind was how she escaped when they got separated. In any case, the two would have a lot to catch up on.

Then Shine slowed down his pace to a brisk walk. Curio was all the way in Dendemille, which meant he would have to cross half the region to get there. How would he get there though?

Shine considered his options. He could run all the way through the wild and not have to worry about any attacking Pokémon, as he could easily take a group of five small Pokémon at once or a trio of evolved Pokémon. But that would take a week at the least and he didn't know if Curio would still be there by the time he arrived. He could go by train, which would probably take him there in three days, but he wanted to go even faster than that. As far as he knew, there wasn't a Magnet Train in Kalos either. How about dragons?

Throughout Kalos, there were locally owned ranches that allow travel through Pokémon. Dragons came to mind when he thought of fast travel; not even the fastest trains in the world held a candle to a Dragonite. If he could find one, he would probably be able to get to Dendemille in an hour.

The issue was cost. Even if he was a Pokémon, buses and trains were only vehicles, and so any Pokémon under a reasonable size could step on there for free if it wasn't during rush hour. With other Pokémon, however, their handlers were the ones in charge of the labour, and their services required payment just like any other human selling goods. The faster they were, the more their handlers were likely to charge, and Dragonites would be the cream of the crop. Time was money, after all.

That was it then. No matter what, Shine would find a way to make this trip work. With this realisation, Shine rushed back home in a matter of minutes, charging through the flap at such speed that he smacked the wall in the hallway.

Shine fell backwards, slightly dazed from the hit. It was minor, but he would've bit his own tail in embarrassment if he could. His stomach grumbled. He hadn't eaten yet, so once he recovered, he ripped open the bag he fetched from the store and chomped down a couple of mouthfuls of pellets. Afterwards, he went to drink some water from the tap of the sink when he heard that tap again. The window was still open.

"Care to tell me why you dashed off like that?" Bauble cawed, her beak pointed downwards. Shine gave her a confused look, thoughts occupied with meeting Curio.

"Well?" she prodded.

Shine realised that Bauble might be of some help.

"I need to go to Dendemille," Shine said.

"What?" Bauble said, "How in the world are you gonna get there?"

"That's something I might need your help with, if you don't mind."

"Depends."

"Is there a ranch nearby that takes care of Dragonites?"

"Hmm," Bauble said, turning her head away. "There might be. But. But-but-but." She looked at Shine with a cunning smile. "What would you give me in return if I did know there was one? Perhaps, your collar?"

"Excuse me?" Shine sputtered, "What is your obsession with my collar?"

"It is in my nature, you know. You can take it or leave it," she said, "Besides, I think I deserve something for being abandoned."

"My collar is-" He paused. Shine was starting to get tired of Bauble's demands about his collar, which had been going on since she met him. It was easier to let her have what she wanted and get it over with. He didn't care about it personally, but Tony had given it to him as a present for when he finally got his trainer license. Still, his resolve to see Curio was stronger than upholding some tradition.

"Fine." He sighed. "Come in through the door."

Once she entered, Bauble reached over to the back of Shine's neck to unclasp his collar. She ran her beak through his fur, which tickled a little, but within seconds, the collar was released and Bauble held what was Tony's memento in her mouth. Seeing how pleased Bauble was with it, Shine felt a knot of guilt tie itself in his stomach. Nevertheless, he tried to ignore it and continued his business with Bauble.

"Are there Dragonites, Bauble?"

"Why yeth, there are," she said, slightly muffled by what she was holding. "You haff money for that, yeth?"

"I'll sort that out in a minute. If you don't mind, can you wait outside for me?"

"Cointh?" She asked. Shine anticipated she would ask about that, as if she imagined there was a vault in the flat that had a pool of solid gold she could gawk at.

"Bills," he said.

"Aw."

As soon as Bauble hopped out of the door with the collar, Shine used his golden vision to find the safe in Tony's closet in their room.

Tony was the one that taught Shine how to use money in the real world. While his days in the facility gave him the knowledge of basic arithmetic earlier on, amongst other things, currency was alien to him in such a closed-off environment. Not long after the two officially partnered up, Tony shared the code to his safe, as he trusted Shine to only use it for emergencies. He hadn't needed to use it in the two years he stayed in Tony's flat. This, however, was an emergency. A largely personal emergency, but an emergency nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the safe wasn't Pokémon friendly, as the code could only be punched in on a small keypad. He had to type in the code with his muzzle, which took a few tries but once he entered the right combination, it opened with a satisfying click, revealing the vast amounts of money inside. He gasped at the sight of it, with seemingly endless stacks of paper. 'Was this really what Tony was sitting on all this time?'

He would only take what he needed however. The price of the Dragonite, he didn't know, but if he had to guess, it would be around 20000 Pokedollars. So he took ten 2000 bills out and after counting it twice over with his paws, Shine locked the safe door shut.

Travelling to the middle of nowhere with a loose stash of bills in his mouth was undesirable, especially as a Pokémon, so Shine searched in Tony's drawers for a little bag he could bundle them in. He found a small drawstring bag, stuffed the bills in it, then placed it in his mouth. Now he was ready to go.

As he made his way to the door, however, Shine realised what he was about to do: fly half the region to see someone that might not even be there. As unsure as he was, however, he was determined to see Curio's antics again and her reassuring voice. But something still nagged at him. He also realised how much it would worry Tony to travel for a few days unannounced. He backtracked to Tony's bedroom and got out a pen and a pad. Gripping the pen with his mouth, Shine wrote as best as he could on the lined paper.

'Looking for Curio. Will be back in a few days - S.'

With that, Shine picked the money-bag back up and left the flat.

Bauble had waited on the railing, absent-mindedly staring out into the noon sky, and when Shine came back, she turned to him with a displeased look.

"Took ya long enough." She said.

"Ith not eathy without handth," Shine said, "You off all Pokémon thould know that."

"Can't hear ya, mate." She said with a teasing smile. "Follow me."

Bauble flapped her wings in Shine's face and glided over to the sign at the other end of the block. When Shine got close enough, Bauble flew off again, gliding into the distance up the road. Once the two knew each other's patterns of movement, Bauble no longer had to wait for Shine to catch up as he ran after her. They went further up the road, reached the outskirts of Ambrette towards the more mountainous areas of land where the ground got more bumpy, and to a path that sat outside of the forest of Route 9.

When they arrived, Shine saw the most dragons he had ever seen in one area. When he first heard of the ranches, he didn't know what to expect with how it was organised. He expected all the Pokémon to be boxed into several pens, or kept inside their Pokeballs. However, what he saw separated by a fence was an open field, as the dragon types and dragon-looking Pokemon freely flew around the area and ran through the shallow grass. There were Charizards, Dragonites, Salamences, Goodras and all the like, but as well as that, their young accompanied them in their previous evolutions. While most species kept within their own circles, there were a few that freely mingled with others scattered across.

Plenty of humans operated the field; there were those tending to their own Pokémon by feeding them, playing with them or resting by them, and those who worked in the farmland area separate from the Pokémon area.

There was so much happening at once there, Shine didn't know where to start. It made him feel dizzy looking at it, trying to keep a track of all the activity there and turning his head back and forth to where his blindside couldn't see. Then, remembering what he came there for, he shook his head and padded over to the closest barn on the path. Bauble bounced alongside him on the fence.

When he reached the entrance, Shine was greeted by a woman dressed head to toe in flight gear. She had her hand close to her belt, seemingly cautious of the two that approached her.

"If you've come here to steal our crops, beat it," she said.

"We wouldn't dream off ith," Shine said. "I need a ride to Dendemille Town as quickly as pothible, pleath." To complete the request, he bowed politely to her. The woman took off her visor, not taken completely off guard but still revealing her surprise as she arched an eyebrow.

"Well I'll be. Did that Murkrow bring you here?" She looked in Bauble's direction. Shine nodded, as the woman gave him a pointed look.

"Well I must apologise. I don't know what she told you, but we don't make no exceptions for Pokémon. Even you have to pay."

Shine shook his head.

"No problem. I'm looking to buy a Dragonite."

Upon hearing this, the lady chortled, holding her fist in front of her hand to stifle herself.

"A Dragonite? Good one! Where in Arceus' crack did you find that much money to buy one?"

"Ith in thith bag."

The woman laughed again, slapping her knee.

"Naw, naw, I apologise," she said, "I believe ya. I just think I've lost it." She took a deep breath, and presented her gloved hand to Shine.

"Name's Adele. Pleasure to do business with ya. What's yours?" Shine placed the pouch in her hand.

"Shine."

"Cool! If you'll follow me to the field, I'll walk you through what we have."

Adele jumped over the fence. Before Shine could follow, he winced as Bauble's beak tugged at his fur.

"Yeah, I'm kind of banned here, so I'll take my leave now. I hope whatever you're doing in Dendemille works out for you."

Shine smiled.

"Thanks. Enjoy your collar."

"Will do!" Bauble gave an appreciative chirp and swooped up in the air, disappearing past the trees.

Shine crawled under the fence and caught up with Adele as they weaved through the field. Already, Shine could sense the attention he was getting from a group of Charmander nearby who all stared at him. They started talking amongst themselves but he couldn't hear what they were saying. He brushed it aside.

"If you don't mind me asking," Adele said, "Where'd you learn to speak so well?"

"Through a caring enough trainer and lots of practice." Shine said, which was a half truth.

"You don't say. All things considered, you speak much better than half of my workers on the farm!"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Don't humble yourself. Actually, we've tried our hand at teaching our Pokémon here to speak, and it ain't easy, let me tell you. We've had problems finding other Pokémon that speak like us for the job, so we do it ourselves, and some of them can carry conversations, but they've still got a helluva way to go. Others though, they have no focus for it whatsoever. I can't even get one peep out of them before they fly off!"

Shine couldn't help but laugh, thinking back to how unreceptive Curio was at first to learn it in the language tests.

"It is always the hardest trying to get the first word out, after all. If it's not in their nature, leave them be."

"I don't know, we've been surprised before. Still, a Pokémon such as yourself is somewhat of a rarity around these parts. It's hard to—" She paused as a glob of green slime splashed over her glasses from her left side. It came from a Goodra who waved at Adele with a slimy paw. She chortled as she wiped off the gunk and approached the dragon.

"Hell-o A-dell," the Goodra pronounced carefully in human tongue.

"Good to see you too, Petri." She welcomed the Goodra with open arms and didn't hesitate to hug Petri as he coated her with more slime.

"How's the lessons coming along?"

"Slow and a-nnoy-ing. But not bad."

"It'll get better," Shine chimed in, bringing Petri's attention to him, "I found it hard to string together words as well."

"Petri gasped, clutching his chest with his paw, "A new tea-cher?"

"Nope," Adele said, "Just a visitor of ours."

Petri gave a disappointed smile.

"O-K."

"Sorry, we gotta go Petri. I'll come back in a bit. See you then!"

Adele waved to Petri which he returned, and also waved in Shine's direction. He nodded his head before catching up with Adele, who was still covered in slime.

"Does that come off easily?" Shine said.

"Depends. You hardly notice it after a while."

The two reached the part of the field where the Dragonites congregated, a group of five who were all huddled around each other. Adele cleared her throat.

"Attention!" she shouted. The Dragonites all turned to face her. She counted them all with her finger, then pointed to a blank space. She grunted.

"Lyra," she said, and the Dragonite on the far left took a step forward. "Would you be so kind to fetch Accendare, please?"

Lyra nodded. Shine couldn't even see her flap her wings before he had to shield himself from the gust of wind. When he opened his eye, Lyra was nowhere to be seen in the sky. Then, he saw the two approaching from the far side of the field, and flinched when they landed. The Dragonites on land laughed. He felt the ground rumble once when Lyra landed, then Accendare. Accendare was slightly smaller than the rest and one could see its ribs sticking out slightly, as well as a Postmon's pager around its ankle. It looked off into the distance with its arms crossed.

"Good! Now," she turned to Shine, "What's your pleasure?"

The Dragonites started talking amongst themselves.

"What is a Luxray doing here?"

"By golly, he must be loaded!"

"He can't be serious."

"Who's the fastest?" Shine asked, mostly for curiosity's sake.

"Well, that'd be Bally!" She pointed to the Dragonite in the middle, who was the tallest of the bunch. "Easy to handle, and can reach the peak of Snowbelle City in just an hour."

Bally gave Shine a smug smile, but kept silent. So he could get there in half an hour, Shine thought.

"How much?"

"Ninety thousand!"

Shine had anticipated the steep price tag, just to see how far up he could go.

"And who's the cheapest?"

Adele chuckled to herself. "Figure you'd say that next." She pointed to Accendare. "You know this lil' stowaway's name. I don't know how urgent your situation is, but she'll do a good enough job for you if your only destination is Dendemille. She can get there in roughly an hour and a quarter if you don't mind the bumpy ride."

It wasn't exactly within the hour, but it was close enough. Better than he was expecting for the cheapest. Dragonites truly were first rate.

"How much?"

"Thirty thousand!"

"Oh," he whispered. Somewhere, he had miscalculated how much he needed. Speed, handle-ability and rarity were his first standards of measurement. He must have forgotten something in the rush.

"I see. I'm ten thousand short, unfortunately."

There was a collective sigh from the group of Dragonites. Adele blinked.

"I might as well mention this is a very generous price around these parts. You might get cheaper further east, but for what's available here, that's a bargain."

That was it. He forgot to take availability into factor as well. Adele grunted. She retrieved Shine's pouch from her pocket and knelt down to Shine. Only then did he realise how foolish he must have looked.

"Sorry for having wasted your time." Shine said. She smiled to him.

"Not at all! I completely understand. We haven't had a customer like you come to our ranch before, so you've made it worth my while!"

Shine took the pouch from her palm and placed it in his mouth.

"Than' you."

He bowed once more before turning back to the path. Then, he saw Petri, the Goodra from earlier in the distance, and stopped. He thought back to the conversation he had with Adele about finding teachers for the Pokémon on the ranch. He hummed to himself, and he couldn't help smile at the idea he had in mind.

Once more, Shine turned to Adele who was checking on Accendare.

"Adele!" he shouted.

Adele faced him again with a confused look, and Shine held the pouch down on the grass.

"I'll pay the twenty thousand for Accendare, and work for as long as it takes to teach Petri to speak properly!"

A glint appeared in Adele's eyes and she clapped her hands together.

"Now we're talking business! As long as you're fine with it being unpaid work, we're square!"

"I don't mind."

"Good!" Adele grabbed the pouch and opened it, counting its contents, 20000 Poke dollars in ten bills. The money disappeared in her jacket.

"We need to make sure you'll come back to us to start your first lesson, so me and Accendare will be there to pick you up in two days at the most."

"Two days?" Shine asked. Even he wasn't sure he would be able to get Curio back in that time.

"Yup. We can't make the returning time too open, otherwise it'll be like you're getting a trip for free. Is that fine with you?"

Shine looked to his side. Again, he wasn't certain Curio would still be there, but he had nothing to lose by not taking up the offer except his trainer's money.

"Yes," he said, "I might need to bring a friend of mine back here."

"Same size as you?"

"She's a Lucario."

"Fine. The spikes might be a problem, but it's doable. In that case, we'll be there at 2PM on Wednesday, so don't forget that. Oh, one more thing." Adele walked closer to Shine and knelt down to his level, uncomfortably close to his face with a serious expression.

"We kinda have a serious policy on customers paying us back. If you try to weasel your way out of it or aren't there in time two days from now, well, your ass is grass."

"I can assure you I'll be there." Shine said, unflinching.

Adele backed away from him, smiling again.

"Good! Ahem." She pulled out a walkie talkie and spoke into it.

"Jean, Fio! Accendare's gear please, on the double!"

A moment later, the two young assistants Jean and Fio appeared lugging around an assortment of riding equipment, harnesses, belts, buckles and all. Their faces glistened with sweat and their arms wobbled as they presented the gear in front of Adele. She crossed her arms.

"Alright, get a move on, you two, and be careful."

The two exhaled and went to Accendare, who held up her paws in the air for them to equip her. She shifted nervously in place as they started to clip and tie the leather gear around her body. As for Jean and Fio, they looked to be 2 feet smaller than the comparatively towering Dragonite, which meant they had to lean or climb up her back to fully secure the equipment. Shine wasn't sure whether he was amused or worried.

The boyish looking Jean tried to wrap the harness around Accendare's arms, who knelt down with all four paws on the ground. He took one step to the side in an effort to pull the strap back, but missed her back and ended up slipping off of her, catching Accendare's arm with the loose strap. She winced.

"Damn it Jean, I told you to be careful!" Adele said, stomping over to let the boy down. "The last thing I need you to do is to hurt Accy!" The boy looked up at her with guilty eyes.

"Sorry miss."

"Never mind, I'll handle this from here on out. Clearly, you need more training." She turned to Accendare's side. "Fio, you've done a good job, so that's it for now. Go take Jean back and make him run a lap across the field."

Fio silently nodded and left with the glum looking boy. Adele leaned in to stroke Accendare's head.

"It'll get more comfy with time, sweetie," she said, "That clod really doesn't make it easy for you, does he?"

Accendare shook her head in reply.

"There there." She turned to Shine. "Shall we?"

From there, Accendare went on all fours, presenting the saddle on her back. Adele offered a hand to Shine, gesturing to pick him up, and he sat in her arm as she climbed up Accendare to the front. She placed him in one of the empty backseats of the saddle which were mostly fit for humans but not Pokémon that weren't bipedal. Nevertheless, he gripped the belt in front of him with ease, but a chill washed over him when he realised he was on the back of a dragon that could cycle the globe in less than a day. He gulped.

"Accendare," he asked in his own language, "Any tips for first timers?"

"Hold on for dear life?" she said. He couldn't see her face, but he imagined she looked quite nervous herself. "Oh, and um, thanks for picking me by the way."

"You're welcome."

With that, the Dragonite leaned forward and started flapping her wings, sending a wave of movement through the seat, Shine lightly bobbing up and down. Adele gently raised the bridle, and Accendare's wings beat, progressively getting more rapid. Eventually, the ground below Shine felt weightless. Accendare was in the air.

The rest of the dragons cleared the way, each flying to opposite ends of the field; the young were either picked up on the way or were left to rush to their parents as quickly as possible. Then Adele whipped the bridle.

Without warning, Accendare burst forward. A rush of wind slapped Shine across the face. The ranch was behind him in an instant. Then the trees all became a blur of green. A blur of brown as they passed the cliffs. All the while, Shine had no time to process the level of speed he was riding at. Already, the spike in speed left him feeling dizzy. All he could focus on was holding onto the strap and not letting go. It was something he never wanted to experience again, but the one motivating thought was Curio. If he could be together with her again, if he could nuzzle against her warm body again, if he could talk with her for ages as they loaded each other's frustrations onto each other again, it would all be worth it.

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _The next chapter will be posted next week, and the following four chapters will be posted the consecutive weeks after. For the moment, this is the first batch of chapters I'll put out, so after I've posted this series of chapters, there'll be no release schedule until I've finished the next batch of chapters._

 _Thank you all for reading this. I started writing this chapter a few months ago, and I was surprised by the outcome of this. In the past, I've had a lot of story ideas I started but never carried out to this extent as I never had a clear outline. Now I know which direction I'm headed, I'm very excited to see where this project goes._

 _I want to give a special thanks to the writers Wolfyn, CarnileN and TemporaryObsessed for beta-reading this chapter. Their input has been valuable and I've learned a lot from hearing each of their critiques. I encourage you guys to check their work out as well._

 _If you want to, please leave a review with your thoughts, as all of your feedback is important for me to progress as a writer. If you liked this fic in particular, feel free to spread the word around about it._

 _UPDATE: In accordance to the comments received in the reviews in and out of this site regarding typos, I went back and fixed this chapter to the best of my abilities, as well as changed some minor details I can't recall at the top of my head. I will get around to updating each existing chapter at some point, but in the meantime, thank you for the helpful comments!_


	2. Dendemille's Pests

The first thing Shine did when Accendare landed was topple over to the ground and throw up. His head swam, his face felt like it was melting, and his whole body generally felt unpleasant. At that time, he didn't want to think about Curio, about Tony back home, about Bauble or anybody else. He didn't even want to think about himself. He locked himself up in his little bubble, only burst by the presence of Accendare and Adele beside him.

"Oh dear," Accendare exclaimed. "Are you alright there? I wasn't that bad, was I?"

Shine didn't answer.

"Man, the trip really took the wind out of your sails, huh?" Adele said. "Hold on, I might be able to help you."

Shine's mouth was filled with a bitter tang as he ingested some sort of liquid. He didn't know what it was, but after a moment, coherent thoughts started to form again, and after that, he felt the haze over his body clear up. Shine looked up at Adele with a weary expression.

"Thank you," he said.

"Don't mention it. First timers usually get sick, although most first timers don't usually opt for a Dragonite. Can you stand?"

He slowly got to his feet and tried to stretch, but after such a long ride, his legs wobbled and he was back on the floor again.

"Well, this is embarrassing," he said.

"Oh tosh," she said, "With that sort of speed, it's no wonder you're be tuckered out! Don't worry, it'll pass if you get a lil' rest."

He tried his best to smile. "I'll be fine from here on out then."

"In that case, take care, and don't forget our agreement now!"

"I promise I won't."

"Hold on Shine!" Accendare chimed in. "Can I join in with Petri's lesson as well?"

"I don't see why not."

"Thank you!" she said with a smile before flapping her wings again. Adele waved him goodbye and with one flick of her wrist, Accendare took off again, blasting him in the face with wind.

When Shine eventually came to, he looked to his surroundings and recognised he was standing in a park populated by very few people who were already looking his direction. Aside from a wooden stage big enough for a band, he found little out of the ordinary. He looked further into the distance and past a surrounding cluster of trees, there were cottages and wooden houses that snaked up a series of hills, topped with the windmill featured in Curio's photo at the centre. He ignored the townsfolk that looked at him and paced around idly, trying to reorient himself with the sensation of walking and to figure out where he could ask around. His first thought was to find the town square, and maybe a tourist centre if there was one.

In his journey down the paths of Dendemille, Shine had walked out the stiffness in his joints. On the way there, magnolias, cherry blossoms and red maple glided down in a mixture of white, pink, and red, while the scent of vanilla gently wafted in the air. Being in the middle of it all eased Shine's nerves from the ride, and the nausea cleared up soon after.

After going straight down the paths, he found the main square and upon entering the plaza, the presence seemed different from what he was used to in Ambrette. Even though he was in the centre of town, the area was less densely populated, and whereas there was always activity from the coastal Pokémon flying in and the amount of tourists the town gathered during summertime, he found Dendemille more or less beat to the tune of its own drum. He saw many older trainers drift in and out of the plaza, dressed in plain-clothes or overalls, with their farming Pokémon almost as tall as them by their side.

A dozen of market stalls were open in the centre, most of which were run by trainers with different assortments of items, farmers with their crops or fresh meat, while two of the others sat quietly at the end: a hex maniac selling Moomoo Milk and a trader under a tent with makeshift shelves of books surrounding him.

He was the first person Shine could think of to ask about Curio's whereabouts. Perhaps on instinct, as someone he expected was well read probably had the most information about local affairs. He padded over to the tent, glancing over to the shelves to see if there was anything interesting he could look up later back home, and sniffed at the air. Old paper.

"'Lo there," the trader said, "I've not hidden any meat in those books, though I do have a treat if you're hungry."

"No thank you," Shine said, bowing, "Do you have any time to spare?"

The trader smiled.

"Course I do, not much happening here, mind you. You're the first interestin' thing I've seen all week, so I'm chuffed to help out any well spoken Pokémon."

"Have you seen a Lucario with a metal arm around here?"

"You mean Curio?" the trader asked, scratching his balding head. Shine nodded in reply. "Can't say I 'ave, but I've heard many rumours about her walking the town." He knelt down and picked up his own copy of The Regional Roundup, leafing through the paper. "Some folks at the pub said she followed 'em in the streets at night and spoke with them, though they were hammered when it happened so it's probably a bunch of crap."

Shine grew wide eyed. 'Was she seriously talking to drunkards in the street? Even if she was precocious, after all those years of etiquette training, didn't she know it wasn't wise to talk to strangers like that? Wait, isn't that what I'm doing though?' The trainer cackled, interrupting his thoughts.

"Dunno how to react, do ya?"

"No no no, I just don't know if I should be surprised or not, knowing her."

"So you're an old friend of hers, I take it," the trader said, eyebrows quirked, "She lost? Would explain why she climbed that bloody windmill in the first place." Shine shook his head.

"I don't even know myself. So, you don't know where she is then?"

"'Fraid not," he said as he closed the newspaper, "Wish I could be of more help."

"No, no, you've given me plenty to work with, sir. Thank you."

"And you. 'Bout time I got someone who's polite in my lot, not like these old farts here." He looked to the competition around him, flashing a self-satisfied grin.

Shine bowed before him and retreated to one corner of the plaza, resting on the cold cobblestone floor. He contemplated the information the trader gave him, soaking up the atmosphere of the market square as conversation far away passed, while the distant notes of a guitar drifted in and faded out.

There was still a lot he didn't know about Curio. He hadn't come across her once in Sinnoh since their escape, and five years was a long time to change, especially when one had to adapt to an alien environment like Shine did before he met Tony. She could've been anywhere. The only thing he could gather from Curio's trip up the mill was that she had kept her word on planning to travel on her lonesome even if she had to fight tooth and nail to keep herself free. But there was still the mill itself to find out about. That would be the next place to check for her whereabouts.

Shine got to his feet, starting the long trek up the series of hills where the cottages sat. Giving them a closer look, Shine noticed that some of the cottages had farm lots in their front gardens which were tended to by Pokémon and their trainers. As he passed by them, they stopped their work to stare at him, which struck Shine as odd at first. He didn't stop, but the further he advanced, the more he noticed what the Pokémon and trainers did when they spotted him.

A few Pokémon laid free to roam outside the cottages immediately sprang out of their work or napping sessions to stand in front of the fields with their backs straightened, their teeth clenched, their eyes tracking, everything to indicate they were cautious of Shine's presence. The trainers caught wind of this too, either standing by their guarding Pokémon or summoning their Pokémon outside their balls, ready to command them to fight. Shine took a deep breath and looked straight to the path ahead, quickening his pace.

Once he reached the top, Shine stopped and saw the sheer size of the mill for the first time with his own eye. The picture he had seen of Curio was only a close up of her, which didn't give much of an indication of the foundation of the windmill itself. When he faced it even from the edge of the hill, he had to tilt his head upward to see the top of it. The blades gently rotated in the wind, but the air whooshed around it with every revolution.

When he let his head down, he narrowed his eye at the series of tall metal fences surrounding the grounds of the mill, kept under lock and key by a gate. The newspaper mentioned Curio had 'trespassed', not simply walked in as if it was a park. Shine could see plants with Razz Berries, Bluk Berries and many other berries he couldn't recall at the top of his head, while he sniffed the air and tasted the sickly scent of honey. 'Point is, it's a vineyard, supposed to keep pests like me out from stealing anything.'

Shine's eye flashed gold and the surroundings turned transparent, allowing him a full view of everything going on at the mill. Several humans were inside the buildings beside the mill, nowhere near close to where he could talk to them. Two humans were outside picking berries from the plants, one further away and one closer to the gate, a boy in his teens. There was also a Leafeon on patrol walking around the perimeter of the fence from the inside, but Shine preferred to get the boy's attention first if he could avoid being chased by a guarding Pokémon, as it was small enough to fit through the metal bars.

He softly walked through the grass along the edge of the fence with his see-through vision still active, getting closer to the boy until he could see him through the grating. Shine opened his mouth to shout, then-

"Emilio!" A coarse voice called from far away, "Come here this instant!"

"Y-yes Sir!" he stammered, and left his berry basket unattended as he rushed to the mill.

Shine cursed himself. His potential source of information had disappeared. If he found somewhere to hide, he would be able to try again, but he considered the chance that the Leafeon would catch him while he looked. It was worth a try, however.

He turned around and carefully retraced his steps to the path leading to the mill, when he felt something tug at his paw. Shine winced and tried to shake it off, but the more he struggled to get it free, the tighter it wrapped around his ankle, like some sort of rope. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. The last thing he needed to do was to panic.

"Well lookie here," a low female voice called, "I caught me a..." The voice trailed off for a moment, then a set of paws traipsed through the grass and stood in front of him. It was the Leafeon. She squinted her eyes at him.

"Wait, what are you again? I don't think I've seen your type around here before."

"I'm a-"

"Don't care," the Leafeon interrupted, "But you look like a cat Pokémon, and it's always fishy when one of your kind shows up on these grounds." A trail of grass knots snaked under Shine's body and tied themselves around each of his limbs, anchoring him to the ground. He squirmed in its grasp, but with each movement, the knots surrounding him pulled taut. "You in cahoots with Thousand Claws?"

Shine gave her a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

The Leafeon hummed to herself, and one by one, the grass knots unwound themselves from Shine's body, and he could stand upright again. She smiled.

"Congratulations, you passed the test. If you were one of them, you'd be too stupid to play dumb."

Shine stood on the balls of his feet, teeth bared.

"Alright, you've got a lot of explaining to do, miss. Why did you attack me?"

"Well, I didn't attack you, just consider it a little rough-housing from me."

"That's what I'd call an attack."

The Leafeon stuck her tongue out. "A rose by any other name, I guess."

"Marguerite!" The coarse voice called out again. The two turned towards the source and saw the face of a weathered-looking man behind the fence. "Don't just stand there; when there's a Claw that invades our turf, attack on sight!"

"Excuse me," Shine chimed in, speaking in his human tongue, "I don't know what these Claws are supposed to be, but I'm certainly not one of them."

The man rubbed his forehead, mumbling to himself as he approached the end of his side of the fence. "Well blow me down," he said, "How'd I get a talkin' Pokémon outside my property?"

"Never mind that," Shine said, "Would you happen to know who Franc Lautrec is?"

"You're talkin' to him right now," Franc said, crossing his arms, "What's it to you, though?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me more about the Lucario that trespassed two days ago. I need to know where she is as soon as possible. Any information you might have on her will be very helpful."

Franc took his gloves off and cracked his knuckles. "Oh for the love of-" He cut himself off and sighed. "I thought I'd hear the end of that lousy Lucario. I guess you know her, then. If it'll get her rotten ass out of this town, I might as well tell you what happened. I'll open the fence."

Shine nodded and headed for the entrance alongside Marguerite, who didn't hesitate to nudge his side once he and Franc were done talking.

"Okay, I'm not surprised by a lot of things and I find that awesome. Not one, but two human speaking Pokémon in the same week? I'm pretty sure the world's going to explode at this rate."

Shine looked to his side. "Wait, who was the other Pokémon?"

"Curio, you dingus," Marguerite said, giving him a wink.

"Right." Shine shook his head. He had to admit to himself it was rather stupid for him to say, of all Pokémon. But he moved on and advanced through the newly-opened gate. Franc was there to greet him as he gestured towards the path in front of them. They followed behind him, walking on the footpath surrounded by many different exotic looking berries. Shine took a whiff of them, only to be greeted with many different potent, sickly smells that tingled the senses. Franc stopped just beneath the windmill's blades, and turned to point at his side towards a part of the fence.

"See that there?" He said. "That's where it climbed up. Can't explain how. This fence was installed to keep Pokémon of its ilk from getting in at all." Franc moved his finger downward, trailing through the mess of uprooted plants. "It ran through them grapevines there and ruined them. They hadn't even finished growing and they've been there for two months. Now," he motioned to the top of the windmill, "Usually to get up there, you have to go inside of it and through its machinery, then onto a balcony where you have to climb up yourself. Unless you have a mighty tall ladder, that's the only way you can get up there. Not that Lucario though. I didn't see it happen, but somehow it found a way to climb onto the blades! I'm surprised nothing else was broken after all of that!"

"Excuse me," Shine said, thumping his paw, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I heard the report on her already. Would you happen to know where she went after, or if she came back here?"

"Yes." He pointed at something on the ground with the tip of his boot. "It left behind a bag on that day."

Shine gave him a pointed look.

"Don't ask me where she got it from, but it was in the way, so I had to store it in one of the sheds. I took a little peek in there and it was filled with all sorts of scraps. Opened cans, trinkets, broken equipment like bikes and bats, loose bits of paper. I could go on forever, but that doesn't even scratch the surface of what's in that bag. It was gone by next morning; guess she must've taken it back. Haven't heard nothing about her since, good riddance."

"I see."

"That's as far as my involvement goes with it. I'm sure you had something to do with it too though, Marguerite." Franc said. "Why don't you tell this lad here what business you had with the Lucario, hmm? Take a break while you're at it."

Marguerite's ears perked up suddenly as she leered at Franc. She looked at Shine once more, then turned to the exiting path.

"I'd be pleased as punch to," she said, more for herself than her trainer.

"Thank you very much for the information," Shine said, bowing.

"Don't mention it. Have fun with her." Franc said with a grin.

Shine followed Marguerite out the gate as Franc closed the gate behind them.

"So Marguerite, is it?" Shine asked.

"Ugh, just call me Leafeon. Franc has the worst taste for names."

"Right, what else happened that night?"

"Well, she just appeared outside the fence again and asked me to give back her bag. She had some nerve asking me that, because that's what any Pokémon would ask after destroying a trainer's stuff. I said no, but she offered me something in return for it, so I thought screw it, why not?"

"She did?"

"Sure she did. Follow me."

Leafeon led the way to an odd looking patch of dirt in the midst of the green hill, which had a musky smell to it. Clearly, she had marked her territory. In any case, she dug through the ground, sending clumps of mud everywhere until she reached the bottom, and pulled out an object. It was an odd looking metallic Magikarp made with empty cans of Cheri Psycho Soda, with yellow bits of plastic sticking out for a tail and crudely molded wads of gum for the eyes. It was a 'rare, unusual, or intriguing object' or in other words, a Curio. Shine's mouth went agape. It was just how she used to make it in GeL, perhaps even better, as he couldn't see any adhesive marks.

"That's fantastic!" Shine said.

"You could say that. Useless, but impressive for a Pokémon. You can have it if you want."

Shine wrinkled his nose at the suggestion, considering it was still marked with Leafeon's scent.

"I'll pass for now, thanks. But, why did she give this to you?"

"Beats me. Why does any Pokémon climb up another person's windmill?"

"Point taken. You wouldn't have happened to hear anything else from her?"

Leafeon shook her head. "Nope, she hasn't come back here since."

"In that case," Shine bowed to Leafeon, "Thanks, I'll be on my way now."

"Wait a sec," Leafeon said, "How long are you going to be chasing her tail for?"

"As long as it takes me to find her before Wednesday."

"Then," she gave him a serious look, "Find some shelter before midnight. Those Thousand Claws will get to you otherwise."

Shine didn't know much about them, but something in Leafeon's tone told him what it was about. "Are they a Pokémon gang?"

"Bingo, and like their name, they have a lot of members in their gang. Not exactly thousand, but a lot. The leader can't even count from what I heard, big shock."

"I see. I'll be careful. Well, take care."

Leafeon nodded wordlessly as Shine made his way down the hill again.

As he glanced over to the small landowners, who still looked cautious in his presence, he gained a new found understanding for the town's weird air. It wasn't unheard of to have Pokémon form gangs in the cities, and he experienced it a few times before in previous encounters, but they were only limited to a few dozen at the most, so they didn't cast much of a net. In that many numbers, no wonder the townsfolk were so apprehensive around him. Shine remembered the lack of a jingle by his neck and shook his head. 'Damn it, Bauble, why my collar of all things, especially here?"

Once he reached the town centre again, he was a little more at ease as the passers by there didn't acknowledge his existence. But still, he was nowhere closer to finding Curio than he was earlier. He would have to do a lot of asking to find her whereabouts.

After a couple of hours of greeting, bowing and apologising to random strangers, it was approaching sundown, and Shine found a link to one of Curio's regular spots through another trainer and his Greninja. Although he didn't know where she was exactly, the trainer made an offhand mention to seeing her at a pub he frequently took his Pokémon to called The Vine, a block away from the town square. Shine thanked them and found it not long after, although it was fairly hidden amongst the flashier neighboring shops.

He entered, being greeted with the quietude of the late afternoon, with only a few young trainers crowded around the pool table, clearly not there for the drink. The only other noticeable figure was a Venusaur, most likely the place's namesake, plopped down on the corner of the bar counter above with its eyes closed. Shine padded over to it and craned his head up. It let one of its eyes open, looking down at him with a vacant expression.

"Excuse me," Shine said,"Where's the Poke-room?"

"At the back," the Venusaur said, and let out a mighty yawn before closing his eyes again. "On your right."

Shine nodded and headed for the room in question, faced with a door with a crudely drawn Pokeball etched on the wooden doorframe. With one prod of his paw, Shine opened it, revealing a more lively scene to the ones inhabited by the humans.

It was how Shine expected a local Pokeroom to be. There were a few cushions scattered around the floor with various Pokémon lying on them, a low table set with a Quilladin and a Delphox sat around it playing some sort of chess game, and a couch with a trainer and his Gligar lounging around on it, typing on their PokePad. When Shine entered, the Gligar immediately turned towards the door and grew wide eyed.

"You're Shine? Man, never thought I'd get the chance to see you!"

It flew noiselessly from his trainer's comfort to greet Shine, pointing his barb to the left of Shine's face. He stood silently.

"I was wondering what that eye looked like." In the same breath, he retracted his tail in a sharp movement. "Whoops, how rude of me." He stepped back and cleared his throat.

"Name's Barley," he said in human tongue as he presented his claw to Shine, "And I'm the co-manager of this little shindig, along with my trainer."

"Sup." His trainer reached a lazy hand into the air, still fixated on his screen.

Shine spaced out for a moment, trying to make heads or tails of what Barley just told him. If he knew his name, he must've known Curio for quite some time, long enough for her to tell him more about Shine than he himself would admit. And if he could speak the human tongue as well, then…

"Are you just gonna stare at it?" Barley said, making a face. Shine shook his head, taking himself out of his own headspace, and shook paws with him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Barley," Shine said in the same tongue. "I take it you're a part of the PokeSpeaker's Forum, then?"

"Sure I am! But we can get that out of the way later." Barley rubbed his paws in a quick motion. "What can I do for you? We've got cushions, snacks, toys, and a lot of board games if you're into that sort of thing."

"Heh," the Delphox snorted from across the room, "Three or four, more like."

"Well, I'm still working on that area. But yeah, if there's anything you want, be our guest!"

Shine had come a long way, and the empty feeling in his stomach only grew with each passing minute. But first, he had to address the Wailord in the room.

"Actually, I'm here to see Curio. Can you tell me where she is?"

Barley shrugged.

"Sorry, she only came out a moment ago."

"You're joking."

"Nope, she said she had business to take care of, whatever that means."

He sighed. After all that time looking around town, Shine was nowhere closer to properly meeting her than before.

"Damn."

"Yeah, that is rather unfortunate. But, you've come to the right place, since she's a regular visitor here. Hopefully, you'll get to see her soon, so why not make yourself at home?"

"Even so, I'm in a hurry to find her, so I'd rather not waste any time."

The Delphox huffed from across the room.

"That's probably not going to happen for two reasons. First, there are those Thousand Claws. If you catch yourself alone out there, they'll come out all at once and capture you. And that's not even the worst of it." He stopped to knock over his opponent's Pawniard, much to Quilladin's chagrin.

"Secondly, I have a little motto when it comes to that little vixen," making a point of this, the Delphox turned from his seat and snapped his claws in the air. "You don't find Curio, Curio finds you. Barley will tell you just as much."

Barley nodded, giving a worried look. Shine looked to his feet and thought it over. If he stayed where he was in that room, there was the chance that Curio would come back eventually, but that was no guarantee. His paws still bounced with the excitement of finding her. It was probably a lot smarter to stay out of danger for the night and continue on tomorrow, but would Curio have done that herself? Probably not. If he was to chase after her again, he would need to find a way to venture outside while keeping out of trouble. He sat close to the table the two starter Pokémon were playing at, giving him a view of the board. The Quilladin stared at the board, reaching a paw out to move one of his chess pieces, then retracted it soon after.

"I've heard a few things about the gang," Shine said, "but why here of all places?"

"Haven't a clue," the Delphox shrugged, "I've only been here a few days tops while my trainer gets her contest business sorted out. I can't wait for us to get out of this stinking town."

Barley glided over to the table next to Shine's spot.

"It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for them," Barley chimed in, "As far as I know, it just happened. Quite a lot of Meowths bred on the outskirts of town, some migrated from the other cities, the strays already in this town joined forces and that's how it came to be. Since then, they've wreaked all sorts of havoc across this town. Crops are being ruined left and right. Fights have been started. They've even stolen wallets before."

Shine gave him a pointed look. "What do they need wallets for?"

The Quilladin raised his paw in the air, drawing Shine's attention to him. He gestured at a row of chipped teeth.

"Why'd you think they left me this little present? Because they can."

"Yes, we've heard about it about five times already," the Delphox said, pointing to the chessboard, "I'm still waiting on your turn."

"I'm thinkin' on it, okay?"

Barley tugged on Shine's shoulder, giving him a grave look.

"You can see why it's such a problem, and nobody knows what to do with it, not even the police. And they've done worse. Sometimes, when I glide over town during the day, I see..." He hesitated, then continued in a low voice, "Dead bodies in the alleys. Only small Pokémon like Rattatas and such, but with so many in their gang, they could do it to any Pokémon no matter how big or small."

Shine looked deeply into Barley's eyes, which were misty, and it felt as if the Gligar would've broken down any minute. He hummed to himself.

"That's news to me," Shine said, "I read the papers every week and I haven't heard anything like that in Dendemille. I only read about Curio's little incident today."

Thankfully, Barley's worried look broke off into laughter.

"Oh, yeah. That's probably the most exciting thing that's happened in this town since the gang came in. There might've been something about the Claws a month ago or so, but that's old news now."

"It seems like she's made a name for herself already here."

"You think?" The Delphox chimed in. "You don't get to see her kind every day, especially not with that arm."

"Oh yeah," Barley said, looking expectantly at Shine, "I know she's mentioned you before as an old friend, but you must know a lot more about her than we do. She never tells us anything, but now you're here, what is the story behind that arm of hers anyway?" The other two Pokémon stopped their game to stare at Shine, who all gazed at him with a shared curiosity. Shine suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

The circumstances behind her arm weren't something he wanted to remember. His other memories of GeL after the takeover were no exception, memories so painful that it left Shine in a state of shock whenever they suddenly crossed his mind. It took the gentle coaxing of Tony for him to confess what had happened there, and only after a few years of forming a close bond with one another as trainer and Pokémon. He might've slipped a few hints here and there to other Pokémon, including Bauble, but the only person he trusted to confide his secrets with was Tony. If there was one thing Shine could think back on for days, it was how Curio acted once Shine and his remaining crew took her to their rescue hideout.

Ignoring everyone else's reaction to her new arm, including Shine himself, Curio would stare at it and grip it for ages until Shine pulled her back into reality. To see his friend go nearly catatonic during the day was one thing, but having to gag her to stop her from screaming at night and giving away their location was another. When they had to rest for the night, Curio started thrashing about and wailing, repeating the word 'stop' over and over. It took his whole team to restrain her, and Curio kept fighting for ages until she was in a state to start talking again. What she told them about what happened, however, was not for any regular Pokémon's ears.

If Curio hadn't told those Pokémon about it, all Shine could glean from it was that she repressed those memories on the same level that Shine had. He swallowed, and spoke clearly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't tell you anything Curio hasn't told you before, for her sake. None of us want to talk about it."

"Why not?" Quilladin exclaimed, "You're the guy who-" The Delphox whacked the top of Quilladin's head with his wooden staff. Before he could protest, the Delphox held a paw over his mouth.

"Watch your tongue, sapling."

Barley's barbed tail drooped behind him. Nevertheless, he smiled and placed a paw on Shine's shoulder.

"I understand. I won't press her about it anymore."

Shine nodded in gratitude. If Shine learned anything from his experience at GeL, it was he was entitled to keep his secrets, and the same went for his friends as well.

An awkward air filled the room after that. Shine sat there, digesting the information he was given as he watched the game progress. The Quilladin nursed his head, still trying to find a way to end his turn while the Delphox waited with bated breath. Barley crept over to the Grass Pokémon's side and whispered in his ear. There was a glint in his eyes, and he slammed the Gardevoir, or in this case, Sirknight, over the opponent's Bisharp. In the same breath, the Delphox made his move and overtook the Sirknight with his Nidoqueen.

"What?" The Quilladin said, banging his paws on the table, "That's not fair, I only just made that move!"

The Delphox smiled. "So?"

Shine budged out from his sitting place as the two argued back and forth. He wasn't gaining anything by staying in this room, even if it was safer. It might've been preferable to the threat of the outdoors, but to him, getting to meet Curio was top priority, even if he had to find a way to sleuth around the city. For the journey, he took a few bites from the shared snack bowl and a quick swig of water, which restored a little of his energy. Before he could exit the room, however, Barley glided in front of him, giving him the same worried look he made earlier.

"Are you sure you want to look for her at this time of night?" Barley said.

"Are you going to stop me?" Shine said. He shook his head.

"No, no, it's your choice after all, just be careful, please. I don't think Curio will want to see you end up as cat food, if it comes to that."

Shine gulped. Part of him secretly hoped Barley would try to put up some sort of fight if it was that severe. But the Gligar stepped aside and gave him leeway to exit.

"One more thing," he added, "What's your name on the forums?"

"'Congress-Of-Dunsparces'. I'll be looking forward to go through it with my trainer once I get home, but for now, good luck keeping this place afloat."

Barley nodded and gave him a wide smile. "Will do. And safe travels, my friend."

* * *

 _Author's Note: This chapter ended up changing drastically from the first draft because of one minor character change (Leafeon was a bit more hostile to Shine before this version), and as a result, a lot of the events had to be rewritten, the most important being the Thousand Claws, whose arc was originally resolved in this chapter. Although it's created more work for me, it's greatly expanded on a few elements of this chapter since I came up with a few more ideas since then. This has also resulted in the writing of a completely new chapter which you'll see next week._

 _As usual, thanks for reading, and special thanks to the users CarnileN and TemporaryObsessed for going through the initial drafts of this chapter. Again, go check out their works as well, Aura in Chains (Pokémon) and A Hundred Tears of Scarlet (Naruto) respectively._


	3. Dendemille's Dealer

When Shine came out, the sky turned a dusky blue with streetlights illuminating the paths before him. Aware of the dangers lurking in the shadows, he turned his golden vision on, making the outlines of the buildings a milky white and everything else transparent. Almost everyone and their Pokémon were confined in the buildings, settling down for the day. All except a few Pokémon that looked particularly feline, scattered in various alleys and little hideouts further away from the town centre.

Shine took a deep breath, going through everything in his head that had already been ruled out about Curio's whereabouts. The square was worth another check, but after that, it was safe to assume she wouldn't be lurking there during the night. The windmill was out, as she likely had no reason to return there again. Everything else inside the town was out, as Shine asked around for hours with little to no results. Even with his ability to see through objects, Curio was nowhere in his view.

Even with Barley and his friends back at the Vine, she was just as elusive to them as she was to every other stranger in Dendemille. She told them little about herself. With that, more questions swirled around in Shine's head. What was she doing there in the first place? When did she arrive? Did she have somewhere to stay? Then the Delphox's motto played back in his head.

'You don't find Curio, Curio finds you.'

Shine shook his head. He shifted his focus back to the hollow streets he stood in the middle of. He was still safe while he was nearby the openly lit pub, but once he ventured further into the darkness, his undivided attention would have to go towards keeping out of harm's way, somehow. With nowhere else to go except forward, Shine took one slow step into the night, mentally repeating the motto like a mantra.

The trip to the square was easy, as he spotted none of the Claws lurking about on the way there or nearby the centre. His hope was that there was still a stall open that had more information. But when he reached the square, all of the tables had cleared out and the camper vans had driven away, leaving an entire section of the area empty. The only other human activity happening was the nightlife, and even then, they stayed isolated inside the pub windows that cast a warm orange glow out to the cold open. After a minute of combing through humankind and Pokémon alike, he found no results. Although there was one Lucario sitting idly beside their trainer in a booth at a pub named Charizard's Spit, they certainly weren't Curio, as their left arm would've been transparent if that was the case.

However, they still had the power of aura, which was a step beyond Shine's night vision. While a Luxray was limited to its sight, a Lucario's aura could easily stretch beyond that, for hundreds of meters and miles in exceptional cases, even with closed eyes. Curio wasn't special in terms of her aura, but it cast such a wide net that she could practically read the thoughts of all of those back in GeL, which she did. But if that was the case, Curio would've found Shine by now. What if...

Shine sighed and made his way towards the door. The possibility that Curio was avoiding him wasn't something he wanted to consider, or worse.

The place was a lot more lively than the Vine in terms of its patrons where a lot more adults chatted around the counter holding all sorts of various liquids in shots, pints and pitchers, with a few younger trainers sat in various places drinking soda. Shine wrinkled his nose at it as he walked through the bar area, thinking back to the sickly smells of the vineyard. It didn't take long for him to find the Lucario, who was sat in a corner amongst different young trainers and their Pokémon, tracing their paw on the rim of an empty glass. Eventually, they looked up and the two made eye contact with one another, which was quickly broken as they made a face and tugged on their trainer's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" The young girl asked. Without a word, the Lucario pointed to Shine, bringing her into contact with Shine. She glared at him, putting a hand over the Lucario's chest.

"What do you want with my Pokémon?" she said.

He hoped for a more tactful introduction as he had business with the Lucario alone, but he remembered most trainers weren't as lax as Tony was, so he had to remedy it with a polite greeting. He approached them slowly and bowed his head.

"Sorry Miss," he raised his voice to speak over the commotion, "I don't mean to alert you but I have something I'd like to ask Lucario if you have the time."

Her eyes almost leapt out of her sockets.

"Oh, yeah yeah, sure..." Her voice trailed off as she scurried past out of the booth. "I'll get us both something, just give me a minute, okay Luccy?"

Luccy rapidly nodded their head and their trainer reached out for the glass, leaving the two in their own company. The Lucario stared at Shine with their mouth agape.

"You c-can speak?" he stuttered.

"Yes," Shine said back in his own tongue, "But never mind that. I'm looking for someone important to me and I need your help. Do you sense a Lucario with a metal arm named Curio nearby?"

"I-" Luccy covered his own mouth. He balled his paw into a fist before letting it fall to his lap, and looked to his side.

"S-s-sorry, I have no id-d-dea what you're t-t-talking about."

Shine grunted. Although he would take most things at face value, one look at him made it obvious he was hiding something. He leered at the Lucario, something he hadn't had to do in a while.

"I can't stress this enough. It's very important for you to tell me the truth if it helps me find her. I know you of all Pokémon can find her even if your aura isn't very strong, and I know she's around these parts; she couldn't have gone outside this town already. So tell me where she is, please, sir Luccy."

Luccy broke out into a sharp fit of laughter.

"I'm telling you, I d-d-don't know them. I mean, a Luc-c-cario with a metal arm, that's stupid!"

Shine leaned in as close as the space could allow on the opposite side of the table, stopping him from outright pouncing on the Lucario. Shine was starting to run out of options and this was his only lead. Otherwise he would have to throw himself to the chaos of the night. Shine took a deep breath and sat back down on the bench.

"If you don't tell me where she is," Shine said, "Then I'm afraid we'll have to take this outside, your trainer be damned. I have to apologise for this, but for the final time, I can't let this opportunity pass me by. So tell me now and-"

Luccy gasped and pointed to his trainer. Shine turned to see the girl, holding two pints of cola with wide eyes.

"What's going on here?" she said. Shine smiled to her, trying his best to look genuine.

"Hello again Miss," Shine replied, "I was hoping for sir Luccy to give me some information, but now that you're here, I'm trying to find another Lucario wielding a metal arm, if you've seen her recently."

The trainer's eyes drooped and she thumped both glasses on the table, sitting next to Luccy who clutched her arm. She gave him a look.

"Calm down. I'll explain for you." Luccy still didn't let go.

"We'd rather not talk about it, for Luccy's sake. I don't wanna fight you for it if you have nothing else to say."

Shine blinked. This was his last chance to get a response out of them, and to do that, he would have to come up with something desperate, even if it was a lie. Not having seen her for five years wasn't a good enough excuse as it required a long winded explanation of his plans. He took another breath and tried to give his best performance.

"My friend Curio is lost. Me and my trainer's team have been trying to find her for days. We were originally supposed to pass by here straight to Anistar when she started an argument and left in a huff, and she tends to create trouble when she's in a bad mood. I apologise for anything of ill she's caused you, but we've been trying to remedy that by getting her to come back with us. It's only in her nature, I'm sure you understand, so please, it's important to fix the mess we made if it will help her stop causing havoc and trespassing windmill sites."

Luccy started tugging on her shoulder.

"That's not t-t-true, he's lying, he's a bald faced liar, please!"

His cries of protest came out as nothing more than animalistic whimpers which only Shine and his kind could understand. Shine felt the familiar twist in his stomach, seeing how desperate the poor Lucario was, but there were more pressing issues at hand than a wounded conscience. The trainer held up her hand to him and he stopped. Then, she gave Shine a friendly smile.

"Well, I did see her pass by the square to that path that leads to the outskirts just ten or so minutes ago, but that's about it. Something must've happened between these two because I don't know why, but Luccy started growling and chasing her tail. I mean, you went straight for it, didn't you?" She placed her hand on his paw. "You must've been set off by something if I had to stop you like that, huh?"

He hummed to himself, letting go of her arms at last and cast a sullen look at his glass. The trainer sniggered and took a sip of her own.

"This is kinda sudden, you know. I thought the metal arm was strange, but here I have a Pokémon I don't know of that can speak like us!" She rubbed her temple. "I guess lightning's gonna strike down on my head next time I go out."

Shine let a chuckle escape his lips. He admitted to himself that was funnier than the trainer thought.

"I understand. To be honest, I'm finding this all strange myself, but let's get back on track. You stopped Luccy and..."

"And that's it. He calmed down soon after, and now we're having a few drinks before we take on the next gym in Anistar, just like you. Well, not drink drinks but, you know."

Flushing a hot pink, the trainer took a swig of the cola and exhaled. Along with her, Luccy chugged the entirety of his drink in one go, letting out a series of quiet hiccups. Shine had sussed out that the Lucario knew about Curio and received a hint to her whereabouts, but he still had the gut feeling to do some more prodding.

"Well, thank you for your time," Shine said, bowing, "I'm rather new to this place, so I think I'll need someone to point me in the right direction of those outskirts."

"Right, right," the trainer said, "You know, I dunno if I can describe it so easily." She stopped and grabbed ahold of Luccy's paw again. "Can you show this nice Pokémon the way?"

Luccy darted his eyes back to Shine, then back to his trainer, and sighed.

"If I must," he said, more for himself than his trainer.

"Thanks!" She shook it and made some room for the Lucario to scurry out of the booth. Shine didn't wait for him to show him out before heading for the door.

"And don't stray out too far! Those Claws are dangerous!"

Luccy gave another low grunt from far away before joining Shine out through the door. Once they were out, Shine turned to Luccy, whose paws tightened into fists.

"Um, d-d-do you mind if I do something quickly?"

The knot in Shine's stomach tightened. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was about to come.

"Go ahead," he said, "I'm sorry if-" A ball of aura flew past his face, only brushing past Shine's mane.

"If you wanted a free hit, you could've just said so."

"Yeah, I know, b-b-but-" Luccy paused, then waved his arms in the air, "That was so unfair! You can't do that to me, you never lie to a Lucario!"

Shine merely shook his head.

"Again, I must apologise, but lies beget lies. Unlike you, I can let a lie pass me by if the person is skilled at it. You, however, aren't. Now please, for the last time," Shine gave Luccy his familiar glare, "Tell me what you know about Curio."

Luccy grumbled, pulling on the appendages behind his head.

"Oh dear, I guess there's no point hiding it, now you got my trainer to spill it." He let out a sigh. "You know what, though? I hate that Lucario's guts. Whenever she passes me by, she feels the need to poke me with that arm." He paused, rubbing his own arm. "I get goosebumps whenever I feel that cold thing. Not only that, I can't pass her by without her saying something like 'Hey Lu-lu-luccy, how's your st-st-stutter today?' When I saw her back there, it was the last straw with me, you know. If you don't mind me saying so, I wanted to swipe that smug little face off."

Shine closed his eye and exhaled. From experience, Shine knew the kind of face he was on about. She wasn't above a little banter either. But in any case, for someone who didn't know her that well to say such things, Shine fought back the urge to pounce on him again. Luccy gave him a nervous smile.

"Hey, s-s-sorry. I can sense your aura. Nobody likes having someone else insulting someone you c-c-care about. I just don't understand her." He cast a glance to the road and rubbed his paws together. "She just creeps me out. Not just that arm, but her aura. It's like nothing I've felt before, just a whirlwind of emotions and random thoughts without any way to read into them. I sense many dark secrets from her, and you as well, like you both have been through something terrible. It's like-"

"Excuse me," Shine said, thumping his paw on the pavement, "I'm in a hurry. Do you sense her close by or not?" Luccy looked up and alert, pointing to a path to the left of them.

"Go straight up that path to Route 15, and you'll see her on the outskirts there. I can see she's adding something to something. I think she's lighting a fire. It's kind of hard to-"

"Alright, thank you!"

Without turning back, Shine sprinted for the path and kept running. His heart pumped. His breaths were light. His heavy paws pounded on the pavement and echoed through the streets. That was it. He had finally found Curio, the Riolu that confided in him when he had isolated himself, the Lucario that would listen to him read from an encyclopedia for hours and never get bored of it, and the Lucario that comforted him when he had recovered from losing his eye. As the momentum of his four limbs carried him, he could see himself catching up to her any second, even if he couldn't see her with his naked eye.

Shine's ears twitched. He could hear the pitter-patter of paws from a distance behind him. As he ran more and more, it got louder, turning from faint slithers of noise to an assortment of marches sounding in different rhythms. Shine didn't look back, but felt his heart quicken and continued running. If he could stop, he would've cursed himself for his oversight, but it was too late from him to back down.

As Shine could finally see the border that separated the town from the route, he sprang forward and sprinted, but his movements became erratic, no longer going in a straight line. The sounds of the Claws behind him went from marches to stomps as their paws slapped the floor. Shine still focused on his goal, not taking an eye off the gate. One look through his golden vision would've told him everything.

"Night Slash!" a voice shrieked.

A hot streak of red tore through Shine's leg, staggering him instantly. His face met the concrete. Without thinking, Shine clambered his way forward with his forepaws. He only covered a few paces before a mass of paws grabbed him by his uninjured leg. They spoke amongst themselves, all understanding obscured by a cacophony of dozens of mewling voices. They dragged him away. Shine could see the shape of the lit border disappear behind a brick wall, and was dragged into the darkness of the alleyway.

"Right guys, I wanna good look at his mug!"

Shine tried to squirm away. However, many sets of paws pinned him down, only giving him leeway to move his head and swish his tail. Another set of paws picked him up by his side and flipped him over, giving a full view of the Thousand Claws for him to see. Shine took a deep breath, and prepared himself.

It wasn't quite a thousand, not even by a quarter, but it was still a lot.

A mix of shadows blended into one another, all shifting at the sides of the walls. Although he hadn't adjusted to the dark immediately, one thing that stuck out to him was the stench, somewhere halfway between wet fur and rotten eggs, which made him gag. One look with his golden vision revealed all. Various cat Pokémon crowded around the sides, all marked with scars and fur discoloured with garbage and grime, sitting in formation around a Meowth.

It looked perhaps the most battle scarred out of the group, with three massive orange streaks covering its face save for its eyes, two thin irises of bright blue. It sniffed around him, poking its nose in various places on Shine's body, who was still pinned down by the gang before him.

"Say," the Meowth said in a masculine high pitch, "Ya smell awfully nice, ya know. Not like us. We can't getta decent place to bathe. We don't even wanna lick ourselves clean, we're that awful. But youze," he stopped to course his calloused paws through Shine's mane, "Youze is very smooth, and soapy. There's only one type-a Pokémon that smells like that around here, izzat right?"

A few weak mewls came from the stray pack.

"So, where's your trainer, huh? Seems like the kinda fella that has a lot of dough. Tell ya what, why don't you walk us over to him, huh?"

Shine grunted, his leg still throbbing from the open wound.

"And how do I do that after you injured my leg?"

To that, the Meowth frowned and swiped a claw across Shine's face. Only a scratch.

"Did I say ya could talk back? Hell no, you don't realise who you're messin' with! This is our turf!"

More mewling came from the circle.

"Come on, least you can do is tell us!"

Shine sighed and simply stated, "He's nowhere near this town."

The Meowth tugged on Shine's mane, pulling him closer to his face.

"Whaddya mean, he's nowhere near this town? What're you doin' here then, huh?"

"That means I have nothing to offer you. Now, if you let me go, I have places to be, forget the leg."

"Like I said, that doesn't tell me nuthin'! Don't screw with me like-" The Meowth's eyes widened and he let go of Shine's mane. He held a paw close to his face and muttered to himself before turning to the rest of the pack, speaking in a chaotic chorus. When he turned, the Meowth hissed at Shine, making every other member join him in unison.

"So you're one of them, huh?" The Meowth darted over to Shine. He threw another swipe at him. Instead of a scratch, it was a punch, clocking Shine across his jaw. Shine groaned as the Meowth pulled him up by his mane again.

"You're the kindsa Pokémon I hate da most, the kindsa Pokémon that act so high and mighty on their own, the kindsa Pokémon that think they can jus' waltz anywhere they like without trouble! Ya wouldn't be nuthin' if it wasn't for your trainer, you're nuthin' but a pet!"

Punch after punch flew across Shine's head. He gritted his teeth, withstanding the blows and trying to find some other way out of the situation. Although he couldn't move his body, his tail was still free. He wagged it back and forth, charging up the static field around his body.

Zap. Shine released his charge, shocking everyone that restrained him, including the Meowth. The rest of the Claws let go, vibrating on the floor. The Meowth stood, shaking rapidly. Without hesitating, Shine stood up and limped his way out of the alleyway. His leg burned from the still open wound. There was no time to think. He sprang towards the border, gritting his teeth as he focused on getting closer to Curio, bad leg or not.

The familiar sets of paws stomped behind him. He didn't turn back. Shine got closer and closer, and finally, like Luccy said, he could see plumes of smoke rising up into the night sky. Curio.

All at once, the Claws tackled him. A dozen sets of calloused paws smothered his back and dug into the skin. They hissed and growled, tearing new open wounds in various places around Shine's body. With each new cut, he sent screams that echoed into the night. Each attempt at storing up electricity was interrupted with more flashes of pain. They stopped, pinning him down to the ground for their leader to stagger in front of Shine, blocking his view of the border. The Meowth caressed the part of Shine's face where his eye socket had closed over.

"Ya know, I wonder what happened to that eye of yours."

Shine gasped, knowing full well where this was going. The Meowth smiled and pointing a claw at his remaining eye.

"Don't matter. Now you'll have a matching set."

No matter how hard he tried to free himself from his grasp, the other Claws held his head back too, preventing him from even tilting it. With no options left, Shine braced himself for the impact. The moment lasted a few seconds, but it felt like minutes to Shine. In that time, he reflected on the journey that brought him there so far, and how he ended up going from the comfort of Tony's home to facing his death.

After his birth in GeL, Shine wasn't given a name yet, rather, he was just a Shinx. When the other Pokémon came and shared their stories with him of how they got there, he had nothing to tell. He knew they had parents, which they were either whisked away from or chose to abandon in order to join GeL, but he didn't. No matter how much the other Pokémon born in GeL comforted him or how much the staff tried to get him to socialise with the other Pokémon, he left himself alone, curling up in a ball in his dormitory, sometimes refusing to eat. Then came Curio.

From then on, they helped each other out whenever they struggled with GeL's programmes. For Shine, Curio offered to be his sparring partner when no one else would. And vice versa whenever Curio struggled to grasp a subject taught in one of her classes. Over the next four years, everything was fine. Until they came along. The rest after that was a blur, up until the point Tony met him.

Would the news even reach Tony back home? Would humans find his body and report on it like the columns Shine read in the obituaries? Of course not. Millions of Pokémon died every day, maybe more. What would his death mean to anyone else except for Tony, his trainer, and Curio, another Pokémon? Would she find his body somehow? She was right over there while he was still pinned down. What was she doing?

With all of these questions left unanswered, Shine felt hot tears drip down his fur.

-

A cloud of sugar and sweet tea wafted in the air. Shine sniffled. One whiff of it distracted him from his fate and brought back memories of the vineyard and all its familiar smells. He opened his eye. All of the Claws in front of him, including the leader, turned their heads towards the border, sniffing in the air. One by one, the Claws wandered into the distance in a pack. The Meowth took a few paces before he turned around with a wide smile on his face.

"Hey, hey, don't forget him, we still gots business with him! Dat smell though..."

He joined the rest of the pack, cackling as he padded over to the source of the smell, while a set of paws lifted Shine off his feet and slowly carried him. He shivered with all the cuts around his body, and he fell limply into the paws of his captors. His eye flickered open and shut. Everything in his system was telling him to sleep, but the thoughts of Curio kept him awake. As long as he got to see her, he could die happy.

The rest of the trip continued like this, drifting between alertness and sleepiness. Eventually, Shine closed his eye for a moment and caught a wink of half-sleep.

-

A glow of orange burned into his retina. When he next awoke, there she was. The Lucario with the metal arm. The Lucario that hung out with strangers at night. The Lucario that wrecked the crops in the vineyard. His friend, Curio.

She stood tall above the fire, arms outstretched in the air. Her left arm looked the same, with the same five fingers that stood out from her paw. In her right paw, she held a bag that hung heavily at the bottom. The fire lit her face from the side, the light shining madly across her face.

"Step right up, ya lucky bastards!" She presented the bag to the Claws that crowded around her feet. "This is what you've been lookin' for, a bag full of catnip, silvervine and many other things to stuff your faces with!"

She lowered it for a moment, and raised it in the air when all the other Claws climbed up her paws, trying to get to it. She cast a glance at the bag.

"What's this? You want it all, huh? Well, I guess I could hand it to you here, buuuuuuut..." She turned to the leader, who drooled at the sight of the bag. "I think you have somethin' of mine you need to return first. So how 'bout it?"

The Meowth stared for a moment before slapping himself in the face, pulling him out of his catnip coma. "Yeah, yeah, sure, we ain't had much use for him anyhow. So we'll take the bag now and-"

"Ah, ah, ah, one thing I forgot to mention, there's something else you've gotta do before you earn this." Her cheerful expression dropped and relaxed to a grin. "Get outta this town and split up."

"What?" the Meowth exclaimed, pointing a claw towards her. "You're on the freakin' moon if you expect us to do that, this is our town! And what's it to you, you don't care about what we do anyway!"

Curio absent-mindedly picked at her ears, holding the bag close to her. "Well, I guess that's true in a way. I don't care about what you do to get by, every Pokémon's gotta fill their bellies somehow." She looked down at them and bared her teeth. "So far though, you guys have been like pests. And I've seen pests like you that've done less crappy things in the cities, and you know what happens to them?"

"What?"

"They get exterminated."

At that, the Meowth's eyes widened and the pack took a few paces back behind her to join him.

"W-what?"

"You heard me. To the police, your kind are nothing but vermin. What's the point of keeping a bunch of pests alive if they can't reason with them or get them to stop otherwise? So when someone finally gets off their ass here and the big shots from the cities come down to Dendemille to deal with the situation with all their Growlithes and Arcanines and whatnot, you know what'll happen to you?"

The Meowth stared at her, mouth agape. Curio sighed.

"Cat got your tongue? Okay, I'll answer for you. They'll char your bones to dust."

All of the Claws cowered before the leader, who himself was shaking. The Meowth turned to the rest of his gang, conversing in shrill mewls. Then they stood in formation around their leader, hissing at Curio.

"Ya-ya can't threaten us, who da hell d'ya think you are, ya dumbass! My Claws will tear ya to shreds and-" He gasped as Curio held the bag over the fire.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Curio said in a mocking tone, leaning closer to the gang as the bag hanged over the flames. "I don't play that sort of game. Lay a finger on me or Shine and I'll drop the bag! Just think of it. You'll probably never get this chance again in your miserable lives. So I give you two options. Leave us alone and never come back, or watch all of this burn! I can just picture it. You'd toss yourself into this fire just to get one more taste of this! So what's it gonna be, huh?"

The gang backed down again, and the Claws along with their leader stood motionlessly.

"Come on, I ain't got all night. Oh!" Curio exclaimed and covered her mouth with her metal arm. "Maybe you need something to motivate you. How's this, then?"  
Curio stepped back and outstretched her metal arm towards the group, giving them a full view of the palm of her hand which had a red spot in the middle of it. The gang kept their eyes tracked on the movement of her hand as she aimed it at them.

The red spot opened like a gate, revealing its metallic insides. Then, a blue ball of energy grew from the inside of it. The gang behind the Meowth screamed at the sight of it, backing further and further away from their leader. Meowth looked as though he would collapse.

"Wanna see what this arm can do?"

The Meowth started hyperventilating and fell on his knees. He held out both his paws in front of him.

"Okay, okay, okay, I'll bite, we'll take the damn bag and leave, jus' stop whatever you're doin'! Stop!"

The sphere disappeared and the hole in her hand closed over. She smiled.

"There. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

She threw the bag to the ground, revealing a pile of little bags of powder, flowers and colourful looking fruits. In an instant, the gang poked their heads into the bag and left one by one, heading towards the forest. Eventually, the group that held Shine let go as well, dropping his limp body on the grass as they joined the rest. The Meowth was the last to join, who retrieved a silvervine fruit and cupped it in his paws. Before he left, he turned to Curio.

"I thought you was crazy, but you're not even that! You're whacked!" Just like the rest, the Meowth ran towards the route and disappeared into the night.

A moment passed between them. Shine kept himself silent, not knowing what to say. Curio cast a glance at Shine's direction. There she was. Her green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark and the scar that stretched across her face. It was the first time they made eye contact in five years. Then, Curio's face broke out into laughter.

"Wow, I can't believe that actually worked! Just goes to show how stupid they were. So, what's cookin', Shine?"

Shine tried to focus his eye on Curio, but the stinging sensation of the wounds got to him at last. Curio bent over, putting a paw on Shine's mane.

"Oh crap."

Before he could say anything in reply, Shine fainted.


	4. Dendemille's Mosher

Shine floated in a warm, self-contained place. It had been a while since Shine last felt that sensation, and that was the day Tony finally got his trainer's license, and therefore could legally own Shine. As a token of their partnership, Shine let Tony place him in a Pokéball for a few seconds.

Whether it was a few seconds or however long Shine had been in the Pokéball at that moment, time didn't exist. It might as well have been a microsecond or a year and it still would've felt the same to him in there. Just like his body. Even if he was as small as a Skitty or as big as a Wailord, he existed only as ephemera.

Then click. A white light shone into the space and soon enough, Shine felt his paws touch the floor once again as everything came back to him. The Claws that tore at his body. The air that smelled of sugar. And...

Curio stood to his right with her arms crossed, looking at something out of Shine's view. When he darted his eye to the other person at the left, it was one of the nurses, except it clearly wasn't Nurse Joy if the pink stubble was anything to go by.

"Well," Curio said in her distinct human tongue, "We free to go, now?"

"Everything looks fine," the male nurse said, "And his leg's healed up now, so go for it."

"Awesome." Without turning to meet Shine, Curio headed out of the treatment bay through to the main hall with her bag in tow, where Shine followed. His leg no longer burned when he applied pressure on it, but he found himself shambling out of the room to try and catch up with Curio, eventually walking by her side. The sunlight beamed in from the windows.

Shine's heart pumped rapidly. He was finally with Curio alone. But when he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out, even though he had plenty of questions, such as what Curio was doing and what day it was. Curio didn't respond either, walking out of the Pokémon Centre into Dendemille's daylight. Only when they were out, Curio stopped and turned to face Shine for the first time.

"Curio?" Shine said.

"Yeah, it's me," Curio said with a frown, and knelt down to Shine's level. "So, do you mind telling me what the hell you were thinking last night?!" She grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him violently.

"I, uh, I was looking for you, I heard—"

"Yeah, I know that much. Barley said you went looking for me, and that's fine and all, but letting yourself become that Meowth's ransom shouldn't have been on your to-do list! So I'll ask again, what were you thinking?"

"Um," Shine said. He pieced together last nights events quickly under Curio's gaze, and remembered he ran into the streets when he heard of her whereabouts. Finally, he let out a defeated sigh.

"Sorry, what I did was stupid. I looked for you all day and found nothing, so when Luccy told me, it must've gotten to my head. I had no excuse."

Curio gave out a long groan. "You idiot." Then, she burst into laughter and wrapped her arms around Shine's body. "Stupid, crap for brains, idiot." She leaned in closer to Shine to the point where the tip of her spike touched his chest. He trusted her enough not to impale him.

"Oh sunshine, it's good to see you again."

It had been ages since Shine heard that name. He smiled and stood on the tips of his hindpaws, joining Curio in her embrace.

"And you. I don't even know where to start. How did you escape? What were you doing all this time? How did you end up here? Why—"

"Oh c'mon, we'd be sitting here all day if I told you everything here." Curio released Shine and the two made eye contact again. "Besides, I've got places to be."

"You do?" Shine said, cocking his head.

"Yeah," Curio said as she stood up, "Nothing important, so let's just walk and talk for now. That'll be a surprise for later." Curio turned and started walking as Shine followed by her side.

Again, Shine was at a loss for what to say. He glanced at a few of the passers-by on his side, who paid no attention to the two strutting Pokémon. However, Shine noticed the citizens were less downcast and more eager to smile. Then he remembered how apprehensive they were around him when the Thousand Claws still inhabited the city. That was a good place to start.

"Sorry you had to drag me to the Pokémon centre," he said, "I wish we met under less desperate conditions."

"Well," Curio said, "Them's the breaks, I guess. Hopefully we won't have to deal with those guys ever again. Hopefully."

"You mean you don't know?"

"Eh, they're slower than a sea of Slowpokes, but I'm sure they get the hint."

"Still, it's amazing you knew exactly what to do."

"Wanna know something even more amazing? I didn't know. That was just a fluke as far as I'm concerned."

"But—"

"Anythin' could've gone wrong. What was stopping them from just pouncing on me and killing me to take the bag right away, huh?"

Curio stuck her tongue out.

"They were so damn annoying. I couldn't find a place to sleep at night the first few days I was here. I shook 'em off eventually, but before that, it was mostly rough sleeping, more than any other city I've been to in this region."

"Well," Shine said, looking up at her, "I'd love to hear it all someday. It sounds like you've been on so many adventures already."

The disgust flushed itself from Curio's face and she gave Shine a toothy grin.

"You bet. I'm not even braggin' when I say I usually do more in a week than most people do in a lifetime, both people and Pokémon. Oh, we're here!"

Curio stopped outside a glass window with the silhouette of a Pikachu on a sign hanging by the rafters. They opened the door as a bell rang past them. As Shine walked in, he sniffed at the different scents of coffee beans, cheese and buttermilk wafting from the kitchen, and his stomach rumbled. He hadn't eaten since his excursion to the inn the night before. Curio scoffed.

"Hold on just a second, they're upstairs."

"They?" Shine added.

A uniformed girl dashed out from behind the counter, and a Pikachu bounced behind her.

"Sorry," she said, "I've gotta run! Have fun!"

The Pikachu gave a shrill cry of goodbye as the girl exited the cafe, then turned to the two patrons and bounced up and down on the floor nearby Curio's legs.

"Curio!" he said, "Continuing lesson, yes?"

She nodded. Pikachu glanced at Shine briefly and scurried behind Curio, poking his head out with a perplexed look.

"Never seen Pokémon like that before! What are you?"

"A Luxray." Shine said. "My name is Shine. It's nice to meet you, fellow Pikachu."

"Ooh, Shine! Shine! Love that name!" Pikachu skittered across the carpet and climbed on top of the counter again, disappearing behind the workspace. Shine looked around the yellow painted insides of the cafe. Nothing too memorable. The locals were focused on themselves, seemingly ignoring the presence of the Pokémon there.

"Nice place," Shine said.

"Eh."

Shine followed Curio to the counter where a tanned pudgy man leaned behind it, waving at her with a hairy arm.

"Ay!" he said, "What's the plan for today?"

"Same as before," Curio said, "Say, can you fix up somethin' for my friend here?"

The man peered over the bar and looked down to Shine, moustache twitching.

"That depends if his kind is lactose intolerant."

"Actually," Shine said in human tongue, "I've had plenty of dairy myself and I can safely say I've never had any problems with it."

The man gave him a wide smile. "Just my luck, another one! Barley knows how to pick 'em!" He stopped to lift the bar stand and waved at the two, disappearing into the hissing coffee machines. Shine followed Curio into a barren looking break room with a low cut table in the middle and a small bed filled with plushes in the corner where Pikachu sat. Shine sat on the floor beside the table next to Curio.

"I never thought of you as a teacher," Shine said.

"You're givin' me too much credit, you know. I just go wherever Barley has work for me, talk to the Pokémon for a bit and get half a day's grub out of it. Beats killing to get by."

Shine winced.

"I know the feeling."

The two chatted idly until the pudgy man stomped in with a basket of croissants and the Pikachu jumped up to the end of the table. He laid them at the centre.

"I'll get some water too!"

The man left the three Pokémon to their breakfast. Pikachu immediately tore into it, leaving a mess of flakes on the surface. Curio took a few paws worth of croissants and laid some on the floor beside Shine while she attended to hers. When Shine nibbled at the tip of his croissant, he bit into a layer of creamy cheddar. He looked over to Curio with a wide eye.

"This is stunning, Curio!" He said as Curio held hers with her right paw.

"Right? I couldn't have picked a better place to teach if I tried!" She took a big bite out of one end and pulled back, a string of cheese dangling from the middle of the pastry.

After Shine finished eating every last morsel of croissant he could and drank his fill from a bowl, he was full again. He yawned and felt satisfyingly tired; with the tingle of cheese still on his tongue and the sweet smells drifting in from the kitchen, he could have curled up into a ball and slept on the spot right there.

Before he could lose himself in his reverie, Curio's knuckle rapidly rubbed at his head. Shine groaned.

"You're one sleepy bugger, aren't you?"

"What does a creature like me usually do after it's had a nice meal? It's only natural."

"Eh, excuses. You know, you could leave if you don't want to stick around."

Shine shook his head.

"Not after finding you. I wouldn't miss this for the world." Of course, he hadn't told her about his plans to start teaching the Goodra back at Ambrette, but he put it aside for another occasion when he could speak to Curio about how he came to find her.

"Suit yourself." Curio shrugged and turned to Pikachu. She cleared her throat.

"So," she spoke in human tongue, "Been trainin' recently?"

Pikachu tapped his rosy cheek with a thoughtful expression. He opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated, then opened it again.

"Little. Trainer is young."

"Is she even allowed to do that yet?"

"No. She does it. Out school. Sometimes, train alone."

"What do you usually get to battle?"

"Pokémon in street. Look to battle. I fight. Mostly lose."

"It ain't easy when you're starting out."

Pikachu nodded.

"Feel so small. It is em..."

Pikachu stopped, scrunching his face.

"Em-beer-ess-in."

"Em-barr-ass-ing," Shine chimed in, "It's pronounced embarrassing." Pikachu gave Shine an unsure look, to which Curio leaned in and spoke in his ear."

"I'm not too hung up on that stuff yet," Curio said, "Just let him speak as well as he can and he'll get it right over time."

"But—"

Curio pulled away from him and continued her conversation, the start of many to come. In the span of a few hours, they talked about things such as what Pikachu's to-be trainer did outside of school, what his relationship was with her father, also the owner of the cafe, what friends Pikachu made out in the town square, how he started using Curio's teachings to impress said friends, and a story about how Pikachu ended up being chased by a Purrloin at night and lived to squeak about it another day.

What Shine noticed about the way Curio spoke to her student was how she would let them go uninterrupted without correcting them for ages, despite their many odd pronunciations and grammar mistakes. Although he had the urge to interrupt, he suppressed it and thought about how he would go on to teach the dragon horde later. Instead, he listened into the conversation and joined in occasionally to ask Pikachu a few questions of his own.

When the shift was over, Curio stood up and said her goodbyes to Pikachu as she exited out the back. Shine bowed to him one last time as he returned it with a wave, and followed after Curio into the sunlight. They walked out of the alleyway as Curio dribbled a can down the road.

It was past noon and Shine still had a whole day and a bit left to get Curio to come back to Ambrette with him, which seemed harder the longer he hung out with Curio. She had a life in Dendemille, as she appeared to do well as a teacher, had built a reputation with the townsfolk and found plenty to do despite the town's rurality.

"Fancy goin' down the park later?" Curio asked, interrupting his thoughts, "There's supposed to be a band there! It's free!"

"We could," Shine said, "But I need to tell you something important."

Curio kicked hard, sending the can flying into the air, which landed in the distant streets.

"Oh boy, here we go. Out with it, then."

"It's about how I got here. Didn't it seem odd to you that I just happened to be in Dendemille the same time as you?"

"Not really. Could've just been complete coincidence as far as I care."

"Well, it was no coincidence. I saw you got into a bit of trouble with the owner of the vineyard on that hill."

"The what now?"

"The mill."

"And?"

"I was in Ambrette Town at the time. The day I saw the news, I flew into Dendemille to try and find you."

Curio stopped short of entering the road where cars passed by, and knelt down to Shine with a pointed look.

"You don't have wings, do you?"

"No, but I looked all day to find you and."

"Just cut to the chase Shine."

"Oh, I," he stammered, "My trainer's doing research on the GeL facility and we need to interview you all the way back in Ambrette."

At that moment, Shine saw that look in her eyes for the first time in years, the way her pupils dilated, making them look as if they were lost in a sea of green. It was the first time since they reunited that Curio looked visibly fearful. Not even the confrontation last night stirred her. She exhaled, as if she was about to say something, but set her eyes back on the road, wordless.

Shine realised he just crossed a line. His approach might have been too direct, or that he essentially asked her to travel half the region with him unannounced, or that he reopened old wounds just with the mere mention of the word 'GeL'. Shine saw the fingers on her metal arm twitch mechanically, clicking with each micro-movement. Then it stopped.

"Damn it," she said. Her tone was flat and raspy. "I knew you were going to say that. Was that what you came here for, then, to dig up the past?"

"Absolutely not!" Shine protested. "I couldn't believe my eye when I saw you alive. After everything that happened, all I wanted to know was how you were doing all this time. My trainer—"

"Yeah yeah, I guess your trainer told you to come here and drag me over to him, huh? Just like any good Pokémon following its orders."

"I..." Shine's maw hung open. Where was this all coming from? Shine knew Curio would be a little apprehensive to revisit her past, but this…

"Shine," she said, stopping his train of thought. "I need a moment alone. Meet me at that park later. Don't follow me."

"Wait!"

Curio stepped into the road, passing through two lanes of cars that stopped suddenly in a cacophony of honks, drivers shouting obscenities at her from open windows. Shine was about to run after her when the traffic continued, leaving him at that side of the road while Curio disappeared down the other. Shine was alone again.

-

For the next hour or so, he wandered aimlessly through the streets in the hopes he'd eventually stumble across Curio. But like yesterday, the streets were sparsely populated, and the townsfolk and their Pokémon drifted in and out with indifference. His thoughts bubbled, thoughts of what he should have said, what he shouldn't have said, the way he said them, all stewing in a cauldron of blame and self pity. His movements slowed and at a certain point, he stopped, ignoring the passers-by.

What stung the most was how suddenly it all happened, from Curio's transformation to her disappearing in seconds. He didn't know how the years changed her or how she moved on from the days of the tests, but he didn't expect for her to immediately reject his idea. He replayed the conversation back in his head, going back to the moment before Curio took off. Then his eye widened. She not only said that, she also referred to Tony as 'him'. Shine continued walking, not paying attention to whoever was beside him. Why would Curio assume his trainer was indeed a he if Shine himself never said anything of the sort? There were three explanations. It was either coincidence, the power of her aura, or even worse, she had somehow met Tony before. How?

A weight dropped on Shine's back. He grunted, fumbling around for a bit before regaining his balance. Something tugged on the tufts of his back.

"Hey eye-guy!" It was the Quilladin from last night.

"Hello," Shine said, shaking his shoulders, "Would you mind getting off of me?"

"Mush, eye-guy, mush!" He pulled on his fur, making Shine thrash around in an attempt to shake him off. Before him, he saw the familiar barbed tail swishing in the air. Barley had come along too, perched on the shoulders of his trainer, who stared at his phone. He winked at the two other Pokémon.

"You don't want to be zapped, do you?" Barley said. The weight lifted off of Shine's back and Quilladin scurried away beside the trainer's legs.

"What are you doing here?" Shine said.

"Curio told us there was someone playing at the park soon," Barley said, "We weren't that busy so we thought, why not?"

"I don't suppose she said anything else, did she?"

Barley shook his head. "She left. Again, she's as elusive as ever. So I take it you managed to find her?"

"Yes, last night," Shine said with a sigh, "She won't talk to me now. I must've upset her somehow."

"Well," Quilladin chimed in, "You better come along with us and give us the spicy details!"

Shine blinked. He was ultimately headed to the same place as them, and at that point, his legs were somewhat tired from dashing from place to place in vain.

"I suppose." Shine said.

He joined the group, following behind Barley and his trainer along with Quilladin who walked by his side. The two partners chatted to each other in human tongue, mostly about club matters and partly about the local events the trainer found on the news. Although Shine couldn't tell how Barley came to learn to speak human, he was fairly fluent at it, although it was hard to tell what they were saying sometimes as they used a lot of lingo such as 'homie' to address each other. If he had to guess, his trainer probably taught him himself.

"Hey," Quilladin said, turning Shine's attention away from the two, "So what's troubling you two?"

Shine moaned, thinking about how to phrase what happened. Even though GeL was the part that triggered Curio, he didn't want to tell anyone else about it. Again, he had to settle for a convenient half-truth.

"I asked her if she wanted to come back to Ambrette with me and my trainer. She seemed really upset about the fact I was with one in the first place."

"Eh, chicks," Quilladin said, "To be fair, she ain't too friendly with Barley's trainer either. The vibe of the room gets really awkward when those two are talking."

Shine hummed to himself. It made sense considering Curio's world view, although he still hadn't expected Curio's reaction to it. He looked in front of him and noticed the absence of a certain stick in the tail.

"Where's your friend?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"The Delphox."

"Bleh," Quilladin squinted his eyes, baring his chipped fangs, "We're not friends anymore. He thinks he's all fire just because he can win a human's game."

"Ah, that's unfortunate to hear." It would've been more accurate to call Quilladin a sore loser, but Shine thought of saying otherwise.

-

They reached the park, which had a full crowd this time with a mix of mostly young trainers and Pokémon sitting beside each other on the grass, and the stage had equipment set up although the band members weren't present yet. When Shine went to sit with his group, he was surprised to see both the Pikachu and Leafeon together. He called over to them and the two scurried over to him, with Pikachu pouncing on him, making him fall back. He licked Shine's face, who couldn't help but laugh.

"You're tickling me, stop!"

Pikachu complied and Shine stood up again, looking at the two Pokémon. A lot of Pokémon in Dendemille seemed to have a habit of pouncing on others, he thought.

"I guess Curio told you to come here as well."

"Bingo," Leafeon said, then cocked her head. "As well?"

Shine turned his head to the other group, who were stood up. Pikachu looked up and beamed at the sight of Barley. He glided off his trainer's shoulder and joined hands with the electric rodent. The rest went to sit down.

After that, the group talked idly for what seemed like ages during the waiting period. Leafeon talked mostly about her situation with Franc, Pikachu talked about Curio's lesson with Barley, who relayed it back to his trainer, while Quilladin revealed his situation to Shine: his trainer was taking care of family matters out of town, whereas he chose to stay with Barley for a little bit while the dust settled. Plus, a little bit of unsuccessful flirting from Quilladin to Leafeon. Although Shine talked little about himself, listening to the others distracted him from his own head space and softened the blow of Curio's sudden leave.

The band counted in and the music started with a strong drum beat. It was nothing special as it was just rock music, but it was quiet enough to talk over, yet loud enough to enjoy. In the middle of the first song, Shine saw Curio appear from behind the bushes.

She made her way to the crowd, who swayed back and forth to the music, and started jumping in place, which eventually broke out into a dance. The crowd steered clear of her, obviously not wanting to get accidentally impaled, forming a circle around her. She didn't pay attention to the onlookers, or the little Pokémon that joined her jig by her feet, as she was occupied in her own world.

Seeing this play out in front of him, Shine forgot his present worries for the moment and couldn't help but smile. Curio was enjoying herself and didn't care what others thought of her. It wasn't troubled by the memories of the past, almost as if it never happened. Shine felt a tinge of envy at this, as he would never draw attention to himself that way. He couldn't dance even if he wanted to as he was not bipedal. Or could he?

He shook his head. Shine had more pressing issues to take care of. He needed to find out why Curio left him behind earlier and why she brought all the Pokémon to the park.

"She's got some moves, hasn't she?" Leafeon said.

"Er, yeah, sure," Shine said as he stood up. "I need to talk to her, I'll be back."

"I'll come with," Quilladin said.

"Me too!" Pikachu said.

The three joined the crowd and pushed past their legs to where Curio was. When they arrived, Pikachu joined inside the circle and mingled with the other Pokémon while Quilladin danced in place.

"Hey!" Shine called out to Curio as she spun in place. She didn't stop.

"Curio!" he shouted. She spun around and smiled.

"Oh Shine!" she said. "C'mon, dance!"

"But-"

Curio picked him up by his forepaws and started jumping around. Shine's movements were unsteady, barely keeping himself balanced on the pads of his paws as Curio jerked him up and down.

"Why'd you bring us here?" he said.

"What?"

"I said, why'd you bring us here?!"

"Sorry!" Curio said with a grin, "Still can't hear ya!"

"Damnit Curio!" he shouted, "I know you can read my thoughts, just tell me what's going on!"

The song ended. Curio stopped her dance, letting go of Shine. She frowned.

"Jeez, you're a downer today. Alrighty, lead the way."

Shine ran back to his earlier spot and the rest followed behind him as the concert continued in the background. Everyone was seated around Curio.

"That was amazing!" Pikachu said, who could barely sit down. "Can we do that again?"

Curio patted his head.

"After we deal with this guy." Curio turned to Shine, stone faced and serious.

"Fight me."

"E-excuse me?" Shine said.

"You heard me. Fight me. If you win, I'll come along with you and do your stupid interview."

"It's not stu-"

Curio raised her paw to stop him.

"If I win, I get to stay here. You got that?"

It took him a few seconds to realise what this meant, and when he did, it felt as if something hard had smacked Shine across the face.

"But, but that means I might never see you again!"

"Sure you will. I might get into a scrape or two after that and be in the news again. Who knows, I might make it on the front page someday! You'll find me that way!"

"That's not the point! I didn't come here to see you for the first time in ages only to have you disappear!"

Curio revealed her fangs. She narrowed her eyes, her left twitching as if it had a mind of its own. It was the first time in a while Shine had also seen THAT face.

"Yeah, now you know what it feels like, Shine! It sucks, doesn't it?"

"Ooooh!" Quilladin exclaimed.

He was at a loss for words. He could tell Curio was furious at him, and for good reason. During their escape, it felt like he had abandoned her, and he knew there was no dancing around that. However, it felt like there was something else behind her anger, some other reason for her to be upset at him, but he couldn't figure out what.

"Hey Pikachu, what's your face?" Quilladin chimed in, "Can you go get us some popcorn? I'm enjoying this lover's quarrel."

"In your dreams!" Both Curio and Shine said in unison. She laughed, and her expression lightened up a bit.

"That's my only offer, Shine," she said, switching from her own tongue to human. "Besides, there's a battle park right by us. I've already got a spot for us to fight in when the third bell strikes."

"You have?"

"Lots of people will be watchin' too. I practically asked the whole town." She turned to the spectators who sat in stunned silence. "And you lot are coming too."

"We are?" all of them said.

"Yup, just so you can pick sides. Any one of you can be Team Curio or Team Shine. Preferably Team Curio."

"This is silly," Shine said. "What is this supposed to prove?"

"Nothin'. But you can always run with your tail between your legs if you don't want to face me. What's it going to be, Shine?"

Shine gazed at her with a wide eye. There wasn't once lick of irony in her tone or expression. Curio was really prepared to take every measure to put him in a difficult spot.

He gave himself a moment to process what he was about to do. He was about to enter in a fight with an old friend of his, with little explanation as to how or why she organised it, all in order to keep their friendship. There was no way he would go back home empty handed, as his journey would've been for nothing. A part of him questioned how he would take her on considering she could read him like an open book. When he decided what he would do, Shine presented his paw to Curio with a smile.

"I'll do it," he said. Curio took his paw in hers and shook it firmly.

"Awesome." She let go. "Be there or be square."

Before Shine could ask her anything else, Curio left him and the rest of the gang behind, and Pikachu joined her to meet the crowd near the stage. When she started her dance again, Shine sighed and slumped to the ground.

He felt there was a deeper motive behind her carefree attitude. The way she was so dismissive of Shine told him she was actively dodging the question, either not wanting to deal with the GeL situation or was vengeful against him for some unknown reason. There was so much he needed to know he didn't get the chance to ask; how she got to Kalos was still a total mystery. However, if he wanted another chance to resolve those burning questions, he would have to defeat her in a fight, or lose her forever. Shine took a deep breath.

"What have I gotten myself into?"


	5. Dendemille's Brawlers

The band played the rest of their set, and while Curio and Pikachu were still carelessly dancing in the background, Shine had long since tuned out. He buried his head in his paws, deep in thought as he went over his potential battle strategy.

In terms of movesets, the two would be equally matched, as their types weren't stronger than the other. If it was just a battle of rock paper scissors, he would have no issue, however, he was up against a Lucario. He was already handicapped from the start as he couldn't wield the power of aura, and his golden vision was useless against a Pokémon that could read his mind.

Most importantly, he wasn't up against just any Lucario, Shine was up against Curio. And Curio was a dirty fighter.

In the old days of GeL before the new director took over, each fight test held there was controlled by standard Pokémon match rules: one move per turn, four moves in a set and no escaping. Every other Pokémon followed them at first except for Curio. On top of a general disregard for those rules, she would also do other things such as finding spare nails before the match and planting them on the floor while the opponent wasn't looking. Shine learned that the hard way.

If having to nurse a potentially septic wound after battle was of any indication, it's that Curio would be keeping Shine on his toes at all times during the match. If she found a weakness in Shine she could exploit, she would. No matter what strategy he could devise beforehand, that would surely be overturned in an instant. Then again, if this was life or death, she probably would've ended it there by impaling the opponent with her spikes.

His stomach tied itself together into knots. This was going to be one long day.

-

After the crowd applauded for what seemed like minutes, the band exited the stage. The crowd dispersed and only a few remained, including Curio, who conversed with Pikachu. Shine tilted his head. He tried to listen to the conversation, but before he could make out what they were saying, Curio stood up, gestured to Pikachu and left through the forestry. Shine stood too, and sighed. Going after them was a waste of time; he wouldn't be able to negotiate with Curio even if he chased after her. He was going to have to wait until the match to meet her again.

Shine turned to his group, who all looked at him expectantly.

"Is everyone going then?" Shine said, switching over to human.

Barley turned to his trainer. "Do we have the time for it?" he asked, to which the trainer nodded.

"I guess it's only a quick match. We're in."

"Well," Quilladin added in his own tongue, "It would be nice to see which ass ends up getting kicked. Count me in too."

"I could care less," Leafeon said, "But if it gets me away from that reeking farm, I'll shoot."

It was settled. The group made their way out of the venue and led Shine on the way to the battle park, talking little as they did so. They strolled through the same path Shine did before, which still had the scent of vanilla in the air, then took the familiar route to the town square, and ventured further into the city depths through a road which branched off into several junctions. Finally, they took the second one on their left, which led to the battle park.

Usually, the battle park consisted of dozens of spaces in the big cities where there were gyms and only one dozen in the towns. Dendemille was just as small, even smaller than that as there were only eight spaces. It was still huge however; a small battle park could easily cover the size of a large stadium with many other facilities included other than the arena. Although the population of a small park could easily reach the hundreds in their peak, when it was approaching evening, the numbers usually dwindled as a lot of arenas were left empty.

However, out of the eight, it was easy for Shine to pick out which one was his, and what he saw further tangled the knots in his stomach.

Dozens of people sat in the auditorium circling the arena. When Curio mentioned lots of people would be there, Shine could scarcely believe it, but when he saw it for himself, he realized how determined she was to pursue this battle.

With each step he took, the crowd grew louder, and he was eventually faced off with the long, straight path that led to the arena. Who else would be there but Curio, doing various warmup stretches in the centre of the stage. With a squint, he could see Pikachu sitting at the front row behind a fence, alongside several other Pokémon of various sizes he hadn't seen before. He even saw Luccy from before staring at the stage with his trainer, sharing a bucket of popcorn between them. The referee stood beside Curio, standing in for the other contestant to come in.

Shine's heart pounded in his chest. Once he stepped into the arena, there would be no going back with so many people watching their match. He turned to his group who were all heading the other way to their seats, except for Barley who walked towards him.

"Well," he said, "Me and my trainer wish you good luck. You're certainly gonna need it."

Shine couldn't help but chuckle, releasing some of his pre-battle tension. "I guess so."

Soon enough, they were gone too. Shine took a deep breath, and padded over to Curio as the audience watched him enter from afar. Try as he might have, Shine couldn't ignore the presence of the crowd Curio gathered. The knots pulled taut. When he approached Curio, she didn't look him in the eye, only staring at the referee, who looked back and forth between the two.

"Are your trainers with you?" he asked.

"Who said I needed to bring a trainer with me?" Curio said.

"Ah, you talk," he said, stone-faced. "And what about this Luxray?"

"Um, I left him at home." Shine said. The referee scratched his head before shrugging it off and turning on his speaker mic. Feedback echoed in the arena.

"Trainers of all ages, we have a very unique match lined up for this slot. This is a one versus one match, but neither of these Pokémon are present with their trainers here. This isn't the first time it's happened in this park, so I've heard, but it's been a while since we've gotten something like this." He presented a slip of paper from his pocket.

"Going by an educated guess, this Lucario over here is named Curio, and this Luxray over here is named Shine. Since this is a special case, we might as well go over the rules.

"Since there is no way to calculate which moves you'll be using, as you won't be given commands, there is no limit to your moveset, assuming you have more than four. You two seem evenly matched, so I will deem this a fair fight scenario. First and most importantly, lethal hits are strictly forbidden." Without taking an eye off the crowd, he gestured his arm to Curio's side. "In your case, if you—"

"Yeah yeah, no using my spikes, don't waste your breath, you robot!" Curio shouted, making her voice known to the audience. There was a little bit of commotion in the crowd as a variety of different voices reacted to her outburst.

"Did that Lucario just insult him?"

"The nerve of that thing! A trainer oughta come down there and teach it some manners!"

"Yeah Curio," Quilladin said, who had joined the front row along with the rest of the group, "You show that robot who's boss!"

The announcer cleared his throat and continued.

"Secondly, this match will operate under a five minute time limit. Seeing how it's one versus one, the fight should be fairly short anyway."

The announcer paused. No quarrel came from Curio that time.

"Thirdly, no items are allowed to be used to heal yourself, act as a weapon or distract the opponents in any way. With that said," again, he gestured to Curio, "Your bag counts as an item, and that alongside anything else in it will be confiscated during the match, so please put it to one side."

Upon hearing this, Curio stomped over to where the announcer stood, shaking her fist at him.

"You gotta be kiddin' me!"

"I'm afraid not. These rules are what separate a battle from a bloodsport, after all."

"But listen!" Curio reached into her bag, pulling out a crooked wooden bat, and pointed at him with it. "Without this, my range is gonna be crap!"

"You are able to use bone rush, aren't you?"

"Nuh uh, now look!" A shaft of light came from Curio's paw. Instead of the twin headed staff that usually materialised from a Pokémon in the form of a bone, all that came out was something the size of a cotton swab, which she shook at him. "This is all I can summon! All this is useful for is picking wax outta my ears!"

The announcer squinted at it, but gave no other reaction.

"Doesn't matter," he said, "No weapons, you play by the rules or not at all."

"Ugh, fine!" With that, Curio withdrew the bag and tossed the bag into the man's face, going back to her spot in a huff. The man caught it before it could hit his head. Shine looked on, slack jawed at what he saw. Even in the face of a human figure like the referee, she acted like a petulant child, despite being somewhat older than Shine. It became apparent to him that Curio was not her once-composed self, if starting the fight in the first place didn't show that before. Was there still a chance he could talk some sense into her before the match?

The announcer headed to the podium off the stage and plopped the bag beside him, grabbing his whistle.

"Now, the match will end when the first opponent faints and I announce it. If the timer runs out, the opponent with the least amount of damage will win and the next set of trainers waiting to play afterwards will be called in. Now, if you two could take five paces back—"

"Excuse me," Shine called out, raising his voice a little, "Can I have a word with Curio before the match starts?"

"Keep it quick," he said without hesitation. With that, Shine approached Curio, who glared at him.

"Curio," Shine said, "Do we really have to resolve things this way?"

"There's nothing else I wanna say to you right now. If you don't like it, get bent."

He gasped. "Why, I'm, I'm—"

Curio raised a paw in the air, motioning over to the announcer, and she took her five paces back. Defeatedly, Shine followed suit, the words of Curio still stewing in his mind.

"Pokémon, ready."

This was it. No matter what Shine tried to say to allay the situation, there was no way Curio would back down in this fight. A lump grew in Shine's throat. He exhaled, then took a deep breath, readying himself by standing on the tips of his hindpaws. If Curio showed this much resistance, he needed to push back just as hard with all he had, if he was to get back to Ambrette with her and be able to spend time with her again. After everything Curio put him through so far, however, Shine briefly considered if all of his efforts were worth it.

Before he could dwell on those thoughts any longer, the whistle blew.

Curio immediately lunged at him with her arm. Just short of being grazed, Shine leapt backwards, avoiding the first swipe. Then the second followed. He barely dodged by ducking his head. Then the third. He had barely enough time to dodge as he rolled to his side. The hand pounded the ground, sending dust flying everywhere.

Without looking to see what happened, Shine ran from Curio's range, running as fast as his legs could carry him to the other side of the arena. When the dust cleared, Curio was far away from him, but charged forward as soon as she recovered. Shine kept running, close along the fence, but the rushing of Curio's paws became louder behind him. He couldn't keep outrunning her. He had to make the first attack.

Shine made a detour to his left. He swished his tail around, charging up his static field. The more he ran, the more his fur prickled. He could hear the buzzing of electricity around him, acting like invisible armor. He had stored enough potential to pull off a volt tackle. Shine turned and ran towards Curio, who stopped suddenly. She held her paw in front of her, firing a flurry of aura spheres at him. Most of them bounced off his field. Once he was close enough to her, she braced her arm in front of her. Shine tackled her lower body, head first.

Bash. Curio flew across the arena, stopping short of hitting the partition that divided the crowd. The reaction was a mix of gasps and cheers.

Shine's whole body shuddered with the recoiling force of his attack. But now the two were a fair distance away from each other. If he could land another hit with a thunderbolt close to Curio's stomach, he could stagger her, taking her out of the match. He shook his head and started charging his static field again.

Curio rose to her feet. In no time, she lunged towards Shine again. He did not flinch. He focused his mind on where he would hit Curio, just below her spike. Just as his charge reached its limit…

"Hit me already, you coward!"

Curio's sudden shrill scream rang in his ears. In his haste, he shot a thunderbolt, only for it to divert away from Curio's body. It zapped the ground which absorbed the shock. He focused again. Curio was already in arm's reach. He tried to turn his body away from her in an effort to run away, but it was too late. With one well placed uppercut to his chest, it was a direct hit. It sent him flying in the air above the fence. When he landed, he broke through an unoccupied bench far away from where the rest of the crowd was.

It hurt to breathe. Her hit must have broken at least a few ribs. All sound faded. All the charge he built up had released. His vision started to fade as well. Was he able to move at all? He twitched his legs. They were still mobile. One paw after another, he got to his feet. Although he could barely see, the yellow coat stood out in the background. He tried to hobble towards her from the other side. Then his legs gave away as well. What would happen next? He didn't know. He succumbed to his weakened state and sank into the void of slumber.

-

The air had a familiar sterile smell to it. Shine was back at the Pokémon centre, only he was lying in a bed instead of in a Pokeball.

He wasn't fully awake yet, but he knew he was there. A paw scratched his ear, making him purr. Something was trying to jolt him awake, but the sensation he felt made him more content to go back to sleep. Suddenly, it tugged at him, and he opened his eye to see who was disturbing him. It was Curio, who smiled as they made eye contact. It was nice to see that face when she wasn't trying to attack him. He smiled back, before it faded when he realised what had happened. His eye started to well up.

"I-I'm sorry Curio. I'm sorry I escaped without you back then; I don't even realise how it happened, seems so long ago now."

"Shine," Curio said.

"And I'm sorry for whatever else I did as well to anger you. And, and, I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to win in battle, and, and—"

Out of nowhere, Shine started wailing. His cries echoed in the room, blubbering and choking on his own words. Curio's eyes grew wide.

"Oh, why am I being s-so s-s-stupid," he stuttered in between sobs, "I shouldn't be crying like s-some weak S-S-Shinx, but here I am."

"Shine," she said, scowling.

"No, it, it's fine, you fought hard for your freedom. You shouldn't let s-s-some other stupid Pokémon tie you down. Even if I f-f-followed you, I wouldn't survive. I'm th-that weak, I'm—"

Curio smacked Shine across the face, snapping him out of his ramble. She grabbed his paw firmly.

"Jeez Shine, the match was a dud! It didn't even matter if the match was a win or a lose, so get a hold of yourself, mon!"

Shine stopped crying, still feeling the stream of tears pouring down his cheek.

"W-what? Then what was the point of this?"

"I dunno," she said with a shrug, "I just wanted to let off some steam. I feel better now we've fought."

"Then, what happens now?"

"Nothing yet, we'll see where the evening takes us."

"Right." Shine tried to jerk his paw away from Curio's grasp, but she had enough grip to pin him down. Slowly, Curio picked him up, sitting him on his hindquarters so he could see the whole of the room he was in at last; a very small rehab room only meant for Pokémon to sleep and be checked up on occasionally by the nurse. Then, Curio sniffled and rubbed away a few tears of her own. She wrapped herself around him, close enough for her spike to touch his chest again.

"Oh sunshine, I'm sorry. It hurts seeing you like this, callin' yourself weak and junk."

"But, I am—"

"Stop that, I'm not having it. You travelled half this damn region to see me, that takes balls."

"But—"

"I know you're thinkin' it's a small feat for us Pokémon, but it's not. It's no small feat we survived this long to see each other again. It's no small feat we've been given these skills in the first place when many Pokémon don't get the same chances. It's no small feat you came without your trainer to see me alone. All of those things make you worth more than just your fighting ability alone." Curio pulled away from Shine and gave a half smile. "Although if I'm being honest, you suck ass at fighting."

Even if it was less than flattering, the comment made Shine break into laughter. "I'm glad to hear that coming from you."

"You're welcome. Now c'mon," she said, standing up, "We've got a lot to catch up with and I'm not doing it in this stinkin' room. See if you can get outta bed."

Shine stretched his legs. When he leapt off the bed, a constricting pain grew in his chest and he groaned. Although everything had healed up, the part where Curio hit him still ached as he was sure a few ribs had to be healed in the process.

"Should I even be standing up?"

"The nurse said it's fine. I know it's painful now, but you won't even notice it once you've gotten some rest later. C'mon, we haven't got all night."

Shine wordlessly agreed and followed her out of the room, out of the treatment bay, out to the exit and into the town square once more. Curio gestured to a nearby bench and the two sat next to each other, watching the various passers by. They waited. Shine alternated between the sight of the town nightlife and Curio's face. Again, he was at a loss for what to say. Where would he even start? Would he listen to Curio first or start the conversation himself? Would he apologise first?

Curio turned towards Shine and nudged his side.

"If you want to start with that, we might as well get apologies out the way."

"I didn't say anythi—" He stopped himself. Sometimes, it was easy to forget his friend could read his own mind. Shine cleared his throat and made eye contact with Curio, seeing his own reflection in her green irises.

"I'm really sorry everything turned out the way it did, Curio. You have the right to be angry, and I should've stuck with you even when we ended up in a tough spot back then. I understand if you don't forgive me after what happened."

Curio rubbed her metallic arm with her paw and sighed.

"I won't beat around the bush here Shine, what you did was shitty. I thought you said you wouldn't have abandoned me, and that's what ended up happening anyway. But," Curio smiled and patted Shine's shoulder, "There was nothing you could've done. Hell, you would've been stupid not to escape without me. I don't even remember how many trainers showed up out of the blue at that moment. So I've made my peace with that." Curio took her paw back and placed it on her spike. "But that's not the only gripe I have." Then she frowned.

"I saw you back in Sinnoh, you know."

"What?" he gasped.

"You heard me. Jubilife City, to be exact. From far away, I noticed your aura and tried to find you. I must've ran like crazy to get to you. But when I finally saw you, you were already on the train with some—" Curio broke eye contact and clutched her arm. "Trainer. The one with black hair and those nerdy glasses?"

"Tony."

"Whatever. I wasn't ready to let you go, so I hopped on the next train to chase you. I didn't even know where to look, I travelled for days to try and find you, but I couldn't pick up your aura anywhere. After a while, I just gave up, I guess." She looked back at him with drooping eyes. "Where were you all this time? I got on without you just fine, you know, but suddenly, you pop out of nowhere and fall right into my paws. That's gotta be some divine intervention crap right there."

Shine didn't respond immediately. He took a moment to take it all in. He thought back to the conversation he had with her at noon before she left and remembered the odd feeling he got from Curio's knowledge of his trainer's gender. Shine rested his head on his paws.

"I don't know how to take this," he said. "If I had known you were there, I would've come rushing after you."

Curio smiled weakly.

"I know. It still stinks though, like having something precious of yours ripped away from you and tossed into an open fire. Especially for you to go back on your word and become some trainer's pet."

Shine rose at the mention of the word 'pet'. It was the same way the Meowth addressed him when he was being attacked by his gang. When he processed exactly what Curio said, he glared at her.

"Is that what you think of me, then?"

"No, that's not what I meant," she threw her paw up in defence, "Like, I thought you said you were gonna become this amazing scholar once you got out, or some crap like that. You had the drive for it. I just never pegged you as the type to follow some trainer around on his stupid quest to gain a bunch of trinkets."

"You know nothing about what Tony's done for me!" he shouted. That was the loudest he heard himself speak for a while, and it had its effect on Curio as she grew wide eyed. He could even feel his own heart quicken at his own words.

"Those dreams I spent so long mulling over in the facility, they were all crushed after the takeover. After I escaped, all I did was wait to die. I'd spend all day reading in the library, dig through trash in the streets at night and sleep on the curb. I didn't want to hunt or battle or even think, I just wanted to escape into much better stories. One day, he met me in the quiet room and asked to talk with me outside, and he was great. When we talked, I felt like I could tell him anything and he would understand as if we had been friends for a long time. He wasn't even a trainer, just a marine biologist who was interning away from his home in Kalos.

"Over time, my body felt weaker and weaker, as it took me less time to get out of breath. Sometimes I'd faint while I was reading, only to wake up in a Pokémon centre. But that didn't stop me. On Tony's off days, we'd meet up outside the library and walk together. He would tell me about his diving adventures and I would ramble about which new book caught my interest. He would even treat me to desserts. It was silly, but I liked being with him, and I could tell he saw something in me. He gave me a reason to do more than just escape from reality.

"On one of these trips, I collapsed in front of him and spent a month in treatment. I was malnourished. By not hunting, I neglected my needs as a carnivore and almost died because of my mistakes. Tony stayed with me though and made sure I was eating properly. It took a while, but in time, I had enough energy to walk. Then, he asked if he could be my trainer. I said yes and never looked back, and went back with him to Kalos for work. So Curio, please think twice before you throw him under the bus."

Curio's mouth went agape. It seemed like she understood Shine now. He didn't feel like he had to justify his friendship with Tony any more.

"I'm sorry," Curio said in a flat voice. Then, silence. Shine continued to look at her, expecting her to say something back, but she turned away from him, lost in her own world yet again.

"It's not easy making it on your own, especially not after what happened to us in particular. If it wasn't for Tony, I probably wouldn't be here right now. Even with GeL, he's the only person I actually talked about it with, and that was after two years of knowing him. I thought you would've understood of all Pokémon."

"No," Curio said, turning back to Shine, rubbing away the dust in her eyes, "I know what you mean. At the beginning, I had to lock those memories away in order to survive. Even so, I had nothing else to live for until a lot of trial and error. I won't lie, I saw a lot of terrible things on my way here, the kind of stuff that would churn your stomach." She rubbed her face and smiled.

"But I saw a lot of amazing things on the way as well and met a lot of fantastic Pokémon, some like me. I've seen many Pokémon come and go. I knew a Smeargle that had their works put up in a gallery. There was another Pokémon that learned sign language and didn't learn one lick of human otherwise. Of course, there's Barley as well, but you know him already. But either way, it's not nice, you know, seeing other Pokemon stuck with abusive trainers or in the wild all the time. I don't wanna go through that crap ever again, and I certainly don't want you doing it either."

"Well," Shine said, patting Curio's lap with his paw, "I can assure you I'm not being mistreated at all. He practically lets me do anything I want while he's out at work, and makes sure I'm well provided for when he's back home, even after long hours. I'm sure even you would like him."

Curio smiled and snaked her arm through Shine's back. It felt cold to the touch, but it pulled him closer to her.

"I guess I would. In the end, no matter what you do, as long as you're happy, that's fine."

Shine sat still for a moment, not knowing how to respond. Then Curio sighed.

"I guess I've been kind of a ***** today, haven't I? Sorry for ignoring you all this time and making you go through that dumb fight."

"No, no. It's fine, I know why you felt that way now. So, will you come with me?"

Curio pulled away from him, frowning.

"I dunno if I'm ready to talk about all of that yet. I don't even know what this interview thing is for anyway. Is it like an interrogation where someone boxes me into a room and won't let me leave until I answer all their questions?"

Shine shook his head. He then went on to explain the purpose behind the interview and what it would require from Curio, to talk about as much as Curio was comfortable to discuss or was able to remember, as well as the process of shooting the documentary as well, which would all be done in a casual environment in Tony's studio space.

"I guess that doesn't sound too bad," she said. Before Shine could say anything else, he found himself being pushed off the edge of the bench as Curio shifted her legs,

"Did I tell you to get off?" she said, "There's room enough for you and me if you lie on my lap."

Shine swallowed. True, the bench was long enough for them, but this was an awkward position to put himself in. He got back on the bench and sat between Curio's legs.

"Watch the spike."

He steadied himself and lied down so his head was on her chest, just short of being impaled. His mane made it a little difficult to budge, but eventually, he was lying down and staring at the night sky full of stars with Curio. Her paw reached down to scratch his belly. He purred slightly as she did so.

"You said you lived in Ambrette Town if I remember. I don't think I've been there before. What's it like?" Curio asked.

"Er, it's only your regular coastal town."

"Yeah, I know that much, but what is there to see?"

"Well, there's the arcade I guess, but families mostly visit it during the summer when it's warm."

"Yeah, and..."

"There are lots of galleries as well. We've even got a cinema."

"Pfft, they're everywhere. What else?"

"Well, there's also the aquarium that's free of charge right next to where my trainer works."

"Alright, I'm coming with you."

Shine got up and stared at Curio, who was still lying on her back.

"You will? All because of an aquarium? You know what that is, don't you?"

"Hey, course I do, but I've never been to one. And no, it's not just because of that. It sounds like there's enough new stuff for me to enjoy and see."

"But what about your life here? I thought you had settled already."

"Oh please, I've only been here two weeks tops, and I was starting to get bored of this place anyway. Not much here except for farmers and gangs that are dumber than a bag of rocks."

"What about the other Pokémon I saw cheering you on? And what about Barley and the Pikachu you're teaching? I'm sure they'll miss you."

"They're just randos I met in the street one day. And both of them knew I was bound to leave some day. I don't like to stay in one place forever if there's more to discover somewhere else."

"So that's a yes to the interview?"

Curio visibly cringed.

"I'm not really sure, but if that's what it takes to be with you, then I'll go through whatever crap your trainer puts me through. Wait a minute." Curio tapped Shine's side, making him turn around to face Curio who gave a puzzled look.

"How the hell are we gonna get back from here? Are we gonna have to walk or something?"

Shine also explained how he got to Dendemille in his first place and the situation he would be in immediately after he got back. When she heard that, Curio broke off into laughter, suddenly slapping Shine's back.

"Look at you, getting in debt! When you said your trainer let you do whatever you wanted, I didn't think he was that freewheeling!"

As if on cue, the two's stomachs collectively growled.

"Oh mon, I guess it's gotten pretty late, huh?"

"What are we going to eat?" Shine asked.

"Well," Curio shifted from her seat and stood, offering a paw to Shine. "I better make my goodbyes now if I'm coming with you tomorrow. If Barley's still at the Vine, I'm sure he'll lend us a claw or two. Saves us having to hunt or steal."

"They do dinner as well?"

"Sure they do. Now c'mon, are you with me?"

Shine smiled and returned Curio's pawshake.

-

It was the first time the two had entered the Pokeroom together. Once they entered, delight spread through the faces of those across the room from Quilladin to Delphox, including Barley, who glided away from his trainer to meet face to face with Shine.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Shine nodded in reply and Barley perched on the game table, making eye contact with Curio.

"So what was that all about, huh? You kinda dropped us into the middle of this spat."

"Yeah," Quilladin chimed in, "You made total mincemeat out of him!"

Shine grimaced at his comment, but kept silent. Curio shrugged.

"Just a little something between us," she said, "We've made up now." She turned to Barley.

"Say, can you do both me and Shine a huge, huge favour? Can you order something for both of us to eat if the kitchen's still open?"

"I dunno about that," Barley said, "That's gonna have to come out of my trainer's wallet. If you put in more work tomorrow, I'd be able to convince him to make it up for today."

"Actually," Curio said, "We won't be here for long. I'm moving away to Shine's home-town tomorrow afternoon."

Barley's mouth made an O shape. This also stopped the two starter Pokémon in the midst of their game as they turned to face her. Then, he curled his lips into a grin and nodded.

"I can sort out something for you two as long as you come in to see the Pikachu for one last lesson. Does that sound fair?"

Curio smiled back, giving a thumbs up the best she could with her paw. Shine nodded in approval along with her. Then, Barley glided over to his trainer's shoulder and the two exited the room, leaving them and the rest of the group alone. Quilladin sat on the edge of the table, staring at his hanging feet.

"Aw shucks," Quilladin said, "Seems like everyone's going away lately."

"Everyone?" Curio asked, getting closer to him, "What makes you say that?"

"Eh, Delphox's gotta go out tomorrow, too. His trainer got the call to go to Lumiose for a performance."

Delphox brushed a bit of dust off his ears.

"It can't be helped, I suppose, but I'm glad to finally get out of this place. Still, it was fun being able to pass the time with you, sapling."

"Yeah, I guess so," he said, smiling. Shine observed this, thinking back to the apparent squabble the two had earlier after he left the night before. The two didn't acknowledge it, but they seemed to have made up since then, and were playing a much less complex game than chess this time around. Then Quilladin looked up at Curio with a snaggletoothed grin.

"You owe me a few games after bailing last night, you now. Oh!" Quilladin stood up, scurrying excitedly to the other side of the table where the game's box was and pointed to the box on the top. "If you two don't have much else going on, we can play this as a four!"

Delphox hummed to himself. "I doubt you'll want to play that game if you couldn't handle chess."

Quilladin shot him a glance. "Even so, I'll be patient this time. I won't flip the table over like I did before." He turned to Curio once more. "Well?

"Sure, we've got time," Curio said with a shrug and pulled up a chair, gesturing Shine to sit next to her. Shine joined her without a second thought of the events that would play out.

The rest of the night passed with ease. Shine joined in with Curio's game, letting her move his piece for him as he couldn't reach without smashing everything. A part of the staff came in later with two plates and laid them beside the two companions, mashed potatoes and a Magikarp fillet for them each. Although Shine found the taste bland, it was filling, and his grumbling stomach no longer bothered him. Barley eventually joined in to watch them play, and they were all able to chat casually with one another and exchange some light-hearted banter.

This proved to be a calm in the storm for Shine. He knew deep down that once the interview process started, he would have to confront his past in full along with Curio, revisiting old memories they thought they would never have to confront again. Even so, for now, Shine forgot about his worries and stayed close to Curio, making for the most enjoyment they've had together since their reunion. He didn't mind whether he won or lost. Instead, he chose to enjoy the journey rather than the destination.


	6. Dendemille's Riders

**The Island Arc**

Once Delphox said his goodbyes as his trainer came to pick him up, the excitement of the party dwindled from there and everyone agreed to call it a night. Shine in particular let out a long yawn that echoed in the room. When he stretched, he felt the ache of his body that lingered from his fight with Curio.

Save for himself and Curio, the rest of the group said goodnight and went upstairs to the upper floor of the bar where they had a room. They stayed in the Pokéroom with the lights off and went to rest on the pile of cushions, talking very little. Eventually, they stopped talking altogether and nuzzled close to each other, feeling each other's warmth as they were on the verge of sleep. Shine reflected on the past few days, viewing each event through a blurry lens. How he got to where he was at that moment in Curio's embrace and the little details she slipped in between about her own life.

Then it hit Shine like a brick. Although the two made peace with the incident of the escape, one question burned itself into his mind. How did Curio escape?

He tapped Curio with his paw and whispered her name. She didn't respond. He tried again, this time, prodding her in the side. She groaned, shifting slightly in her sleep.

"Wha?"

"Curio," Shine said, keeping his voice low, "There's still something I don't understand."

"I know you do," she whispered, "And I don't care."

"But-"

"Shh..." Curio moved her paw and laid it over Shine's stomach. Eventually, she fell asleep and snored next to Shine, gripping him close to her. He tried to move, but she continued clutching him in a death grip. He struggled for a little bit, but eventually stopped and put his thoughts to rest. Even if he didn't have all the answers yet, he could live with not knowing while the two were still in the moment. He closed his eyes again and in time, drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Shine budged in his slumber, falling onto the floor from the pillow pile. He yawned and opened his eye to see Curio already awake, extending and contracting her metal arm. It squeaked a little. She grunted and dove inside her bag to draw out an oil can, which she squirted around its crevices.

"That fight did a number on this arm, you know," Curio said. "Gotta watch what I do for a little while."

Shine stood up, kicking at the air to stretch himself too. His joints felt less stiff than before.

"Right. Do you still get those phantom pains?"

She shrugged. "I hardly notice 'em any more, but this arm can still be a pain in the ass." Curio wiggled her metallic fingers as they clicked.

"Right now, it's just fine, but sometimes, it refuses to work at all, and I ain't had any success finding anyone to fix it. Not everyday you get a Lucario wonderin' around with an arm like this, you know."

"If you want," Shine said, "I could help you find a mechanic in Ambrette."

Curio crossed her arms.

"Yeah, don't suppose your trainer will let you sponge off his money again, do you?"

"I can convince him to help," he said with a smile. "If you're lucky given your circumstances, they could do it for free."

"Yeah, we'll see about that."

There was a knock at the door. Curio glanced at Shine and pointed at the frame, gesturing him to follow her out. Barley greeted them along with his trainer and headed out to the cafe.

When they entered, instead of the pudgy owner being at his usual spot behind the counter, this time, a much thinner man operated the till in his place. Barley shot a glance at his trainer. When the substitute sighted the group, he looked just as confused.

"Uh, hi there?"

"Hey," Barley said, "Isn't the owner in today?"

"Huh?" He narrowed his eyes, then gave a squeal of surprise. "Right, right, you're the, uh, Pokémon he told me about! Yeah, unfortunately, he had to call me in to cover for him. There was a sudden meeting at his daughter's training school."

"So Pikachu isn't here either?"

He shook his head. "Sorry, I know he said you two called him in last night. But bear with me for a bit, I have something for the Lucario."

Before Curio could ask why, the clerk disappeared into the kitchen, only to come out again with a wooden basket full of various fruits. Her eyes beamed at the sight of it, although Shine couldn't see its contents.

"He told me to prepare this for you," he said, handing the basket over to Curio, "It's on the house."

"Thanks a bunch!" she said, gripping the handle in her paw. She looked down to Shine. "Well, I think this is too much to tackle on my own. You all wanna help me out?"

Shine nodded in reply. After last night's events, he had worked up a sizeable appetite. The group all gathered around the table and Shine climbed up to stand on the chair, giving him a full view of the fruits basket. A cornucopia of colourful berries adorned the insides: Oran, Pecha, Grepa, even Kee and Maranga berries amongst others Shine didn't immediately recognise. What stuck out to him was the white slip of paper attached to the handle.

"What about the note?" Shine said before Curio could dip her paw into her breakfast. She narrowed her eyes before noticing it, then pried the piece of paper off, and folded it open on the table for all to see. It appeared to be a handwritten letter. Barley pointed at the paper with his barb.

"Oh, I recognise the owner's handwriting! Go on, read it!"

Curio grunted and snatched the sheet, holding it up close to her face.

"Fine. I might be a bit rusty, though."

She cleared her throat.

 _"To Curio,_  
 _I only heard the news about your leave recently so you've left me unprepared for this letter, but I want to thank you for carrying on Pikachu's lessons from where the other teacher left off. Although there's much I have to learn about you and what Pokémon are like in general, even without Pikachu having to speak, I can tell he was happy being around you. It's given my daughter some hope as well for when she eventually leaves._

 _Consider this basket a parting gift. I don't know if it's a tradition with Pokémon, but in any case, best of luck to all your future travels._

 _P.S. I've never had to write a letter for a Pokémon before either. This must be a new milestone for my business."_

Curio put the letter to one side and hummed to herself, smiling.

"Well good for him," she said, then plucked an Oran berry out the pile. "Now let's eat before I starve to death."

Everyone silently agreed as they dipped their hands and paws into the basket. Everyone except for Shine. While Curio was in the middle of chewing on a piece of Oran, she glanced at Shine, who was trying to grab a piece of fruit but was slightly out of reach. He was being cautious not to climb on the table and accidentally flip it over. Curio swallowed.

"Whoops, force of habit, I guess." She laid a berry of each kind at Shine's level, finally allowing him to dig in. The berries were tender and cold, nourishing Shine as he drank its sweet juices.

"Sho," Curio said, halfway between a bite, "What'sh nexsht now the Pikachu'sh out?"

"That's it, I think," Barley said, "We've got no one else available for you to teach since you're going so soon."

"What about lastsh night?" she said, then swallowed.

"I'll let it slide. What do you think?" He turned his head to his trainer, who shrugged. "Then that works for me."

"Awesome."

"Besides," he gave her a wide smile, "It's been great having you here. If you ever come to the Vine again, our doors are open for you."

Curio batted a paw in the air at him. "Aw, you're makin' me blush, if I could anyway."

Barley turned to Shine.

"Let me know how it goes in Ambrette. I'd like to hear about what the Pokéstops are like there if there are any."

Shine hummed to himself. He hadn't really checked to see if there were any, or at least showed much interest in finding one. He mostly kept to himself, either going to the library, reading to Bauble or staying at home during the day to read more. If Barley was interested in this case, that would be reason enough to finally go to one. Regardless, Shine smiled and offered his front paw to him, which he shook in return.

When Shine returned to tend to his breakfast, he glanced at Curio and saw her previously cheerful expression had dropped. He wasn't sure why, but as quickly as he saw it, it was gone, as Curio shook her head and chomped on a Pecha berry.

Once the group had gotten to the bottom of the basket and filled their stomachs, they decided to go their separate ways. Shine and Curio would venture outside until their eventual leave, and Barley and his trainer offered to stay behind to discuss business matters with the co-owner. Before the duo left, however, Barley glided up to Curio's shoulder and licked her across the face with his big tongue. She laughed it off and waved them goodbye.

The two exited the cafe, heading out into the square again when Curio nudged Shine with her leg.

"So who's this Bauble, anyway?"

Shine turned to her, wide eyed. He stumbled on his own words, before Curio cut him off with a laugh.

"Relax, I didn't ask you if you two were dating or anything, just wondering."

So Curio used her aura again. He exhaled and his heartbeat steadied.

"She's just a friend that tags along with me whenever she's bored. Nothing more."

"Alrighty then."

"Curio," he said, changing his tone, "I hate to sound rude, but would it be possible for you to not keep reading my thoughts like that? It's a little invasive."

"I can't help myself, it's in my nature to nose around like that. And you saying it's invasive, I mean, you can see through walls and stuff. How many people have you seen naked in their homes?"

Shine flustered, trying to think of a proper response. He hadn't really stopped to notice. "Well, I-"

"Don't answer that."

She had a point, even if it was completely missing the point of his request in the first place. Still, he couldn't deny it was her way of defending herself, which proved to be especially useful out in the wild or even in the competitive nature of the GeL Project. Shine took a deep breath and continued.

"Still, can you keep my thoughts to yourself? Unless I'm lying, of course. You can call me out on it whenever that happens."

Curio nodded. "Of course I will. You never lie to a Lucario, after all."

That much was common knowledge.

"Say," she said, "We've got plenty of time before we head out, right? Wanna do something fun?"

It was still early, Shine thought. It would've been convenient to have a watch to know exactly how long he had left.

"Oh!" Curio exclaimed, "Look, I'll try to stop sticking my nose into your business, but if you wanna know what the time is..." She stopped walking and fished inside one of the many pockets in her bag to pull out a watch. She held it close to her ears, which twitched.

"Yup, still works. How much do we have left?"

Curio presented the clock-face to Shine. He forgot about the fact Curio just read his thoughts again and stared at the watch. It was surprisingly pleasant to look at, encrusted with various stones as they glittered in the sunlight. If Shine knew anything about watches, he would've said it must've been fairly expensive.

Before he could dwell on it any longer, Curio coughed in a purposeful way. He turned to face her.

"We've got two hours until we need to be at the park."

"Sweet," Curio said, withdrawing the watch. "Tell ya what, I've got a surprise waiting for ya. Run up to the top of that hill before the mill and I'll be there with ya in a bit, okay?"

Before Shine could muster a reply, Curio turned the other way and made a running start.

"Hold on, Curio!" Shine shouted. This time, she stopped.

"Is this going to be like last time?"

"Course not," Curio said, "I've gotten over that now, I'm definitely coming with ya."

"You swear it on your tail?"

"Swear it on my tail." Before she left, she made a point of her tail-swear by flicking it. Then Shine was left to his own devices.

* * *

When Shine saw Curio again, he saw her lugging a big shopping cart uphill. He blinked a few times until he realised what Curio had been planning as a surprise.

"You can't be serious," Shine said.

"Course I am!" Curio said, "I've done this a few times before with Quilladin and we both turned out fine!"

Shine narrowed his eye at her. "Where did you get that from anyway? You're not supposed to take them!"

Curio blew a Razzberry at him. "Who cares? Everyone takes them anyway, what harm will another do?"

Shine grunted and looked to his left where the hill headed off into an incline. The drop down there was steep.

"C'mon!" Curio said, "Don't be a wuss, I just wanna do this once before I go." Then, she gave Shine a toothy grin. "You don't wanna be like lily-livered Luccy, do ya?"

Shine bared his teeth. This is that situation all over again, he thought. There was nothing at stake this time, but of all things, Shine hated nothing more than wounded pride. He looked at Curio square in the eye and nodded.

"Alright, you're on."

Curio relaxed into a more genuine smile. "That's more like it."

Shine clinged onto the edge of the cart with his forepaws while Curio gripped it tightly, not wanting to careen off the hill too early. Once he lifted himself off the ground, he stumbled into the basket and landed on his back, fumbling around in it until he was sat up. He could feel his tail poking through the metal mesh below.

Shine looked in front of him to see the hill's slope. This was going to be a steep ride at the very least, if there wasn't anybody else in the way. His pulse quickened. He was regretting it already. Before he could protest, Curio already started pushing the cart downhill. In his reflex, Shine grappled onto the rim of the basket, holding on for what felt like his life.

"I didn't even say I was ready!" he shouted.

"Didn't need to! Hold on!" Curio dumped her bag behind Shine and stepped onto the rail. The cart felt weightless. It went at a steady speed on the straight path at first. Once they reached the slope, however, they shot downhill. Both of them screamed. Curio sounded joyful. Shine didn't. In fact, the speed reminded him all too well of Adele's dragon riding. Not only that, each time the wheels bumped, he could feel the vibrations of the whole cart ring through his body. Did Quilladin actually enjoy this?

They were about to approach a dead end. There was a sharp turn on the left.

"Get ready for this!" Curio shouted.

"Wait wait wait wait wait wait!"

Curio shifted her weight to her right, sending Shine against one of the mesh wells. He held on. It still looked certain to him that they were about to crash, Then, Curio gripped the handle with her metal arm. The cart made a full 90 degree turn as it drifted around the corner.

He couldn't believe what he was experiencing. Was Curio really capable of this? After that turn, anything she would do next would be mundane in comparison. In any case, they were headed down the straight downhill slope again. Curio howled in the air as they raced down.

In turn, Shine started roaring along with her too.

* * *

The rest had been smooth sailings, save for the two occasional bystanders that had to make way. Once they reached the plateau at the end, Curio skidded her paws on the ground, acting as brakes, and slowed down the cart, which eventually stopped. Shine slunk down to the bottom of the basket and lied there, catching his breath. Curio stood above him, appearing upside down.

"Now you can be mad at me," she said.

Shine smiled. "That was fantastic, actually. I'd never want to do that again, though."

Curio chuckled, then reached down to let Shine out of the cart. He dropped down to the floor beside Curio's feet and she sat down beside him, ignoring their presence in the middle of the streets. Shine couldn't help but glance at the bottoms of her paws, which were scuffed.

"You used those to brake, correct?"

Curio nodded.

"How are they not torn up at this speed?"

"Let's just say I've had plenty of exercise." Curio tapped the sole of her foot with a claw. "See? Tough as leather."

"Hello, you two." It was Leafeon. They turned to see her running towards them. "I saw your downhill race. I'd give it full points if this were a contest." She winked at Shine. "I see you've made it in one piece."

"Just barely," Curio said before he could speak for himself. "How's it going?"

"Actually, I need to warn you about something. The master hasn't forgotten about what you did a few days back."

Curio cocked an eye at her. "Yeah, so?"

"So, he's looking to press charges."

Curio blinked. "Excuse me?"

"He told one of his other workers. Trespassing, destruction of property, plus he suspects you actually came there to steal, and stuff."

"Seriously?" Curio stood up, wagging a paw at her. "It was for a good cause, I swear! You can back me up on this, right, Shine?"

Shine sat up and nodded. "Absolutely. She saved my hide from those Claws. Plus, I saw her drive them away from town and I don't think I've seen anybody mention it since."

Leafeon's lips straightened into a line.

"I'll believe it when I see it, but whatever. Point is, it'll cost him a lot."

"How much exactly?" Shine asked, to which, Leafeon shrugged.

"I suck at money and numbers so I can't say for sure, but a lot lot."

"Well," Curio scoffed, "Screw that. We're going out of town soon anyway and nobody can stop us, unless you came here to fight."

Leafeon cocked her head with a thoughtful expression, then shook her head.

"Eh. I'll give you the benefit of a doubt. Besides, I'm no snitch. Not that I can really say much to change this situation, but hey."

"Good," Curio smiled, then offered a paw to her which she shook in return. Leafeon came to do the same with Shine, which he returned too.

"It was nice knowing you freaks anyway. See you."

With that, Leafeon disappeared up the hill, leaving the two on their own again. When Shine looked around him, he noticed the very visible presence the two had with the shopping cart still in tow. He turned to Curio.

"We should probably return this where it belongs."

"It was abandoned when I found it, so we can just dump it."

He glanced to his right, noticing the passers by walking amongst them. Before he could say anything in protest, Curio pushed it down a small grassy ditch, leaving its wheels spinning in the air.

"There were people watching," he said.

"And?" Curio said, "Got nothing to do with me. Shouldn't we be heading down the park anyways?"

Part of him wondered what Curio was thinking, and another part of him wondered if worrying about it was a waste. He chose the latter option and made his way to the park with Curio. They settled in an unoccupied spot and sat in the shade, keeping close to reach other. They found themselves talking very little during their rest. Curio made passing comments on whichever Pokémon she saw in the park, but Shine kept mostly to himself. It was so quiet, he could hear the wind brush past the leaves. It calmed him after the trip he had downhill. Eventually, the two dozed off close together, using Curio's bag to support both of their heads.

The trees started to rustle with a light breeze, then nearly stripped with the force of the howling wind, jolting Curio and Shine awake. Passers by made way as they stepped to one side, steering clear for a certain duo to land. It was Adele and her Dragonite Accendare. With each landing wing flap, the breeze brushed the two's faces until Accendare jerked down with an ungraceful thump. Shine didn't hesitate to approach them, as Curio followed.

"Hello," Shine said.

"Nice to see you're early!" Adele said, "Ready for another ride on the puke plane?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"And I see this is the Lucario you were talking about!" Adele jumped off the harness, ready to give Curio a handshake when she noticed the arm, and quirked an eyebrow at it.

"Yeah, that's the first thing folks usually notice," Curio said in human tongue, "Makes for a good icebreaker, I'd say." To make a point of this, she accepted Adele's handshake with the arm as opposed to her paw. The rider's face broke into laughter.

"Oh man! This gets more interesting with each passing day! Alright, hop on!"

The rider climbed onto Accendare's back and helped the two get on. It didn't take long for Curio to orient herself with the riding gear.

"Are you still joining our lesson?" Shine asked Accendare.

"Of course," she said.

With that, Adele signalled the Dragonite to take flight, and they were in the air within a minute. The two clutched the belts and for the entirety of the trip, held on as their lives depended on it.


	7. Ambrette's Teachers

When they arrived at the ranch, the two had to rest. Although Shine didn't vomit like last time as he got used to the sensation of flying at such a high speed, the nausea still caught up with him and wouldn't let go any time soon. Oddly enough, to him at least, Curio didn't seem as affected by it, only resting to catch her breath as one normally would after being exposed to the elements. She recovered once she adjusted to ground level again, and stood over Shine, blocking his view of the sky.

"Come on, you big furball. Do I have to drag you up to your feet?"

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to wait, this is my business."

"I know, but I can help out too, ya know. Just don't keep me waiting."

Shine staggered to his paws, still dizzy from the ride. He shook his head, trying to get a grip on the world. The rider had already undone Accendare's equipment and the assistants were walking back to the barn with it in tow. The two joined Adele.

"So," Shine started, "What level would you say Petri's at?"

"Well, we've been teaching him throughout the spring all the way up to here so far. He can do short sentences, and his pronunciation's alright, but he has to break most words down bit by bit to be able to say them, which makes him sound kind of flat. His grammar's fine, though, so on the whole, I'd say he's reaching into an intermediate level.

"What about his teacher?"

"Unfortunately, he and Petri don't get along well, but I'll let him speak for himself."

"And is it alright if Accendare joins us?"

"What, does she want to join in too?" She turned to Accendare, who nodded.

"Well, you can as long as you can do some extra work tomorrow for the Postmon service." Again, Accendere nodded and Adele gave her a little pat on the side. "Cool." She turned.

"Well, I don't see anything else I should say, just feel free to report to the house beside the barn when it becomes sunset. You'll see Petri over at the boggy pond. Oh, and feel free to take a break when you should, just so those two can get some exercise."

"Alright, thank you."

"Gotcha."

With that, the two headed over to the small bog where Petri, another Goodra and a pair of Goomy swam. When Petri spotted them, he leaned out of the pond and waved over to the group.

"Hey Shine!" he said. "Are we starting now?"

"We can if you want. I doubt Accendare will want to wait."

Petri cocked his head. "Who?"

Accendare fumbled around with her paws.

"Um, we've met before, Petri. At the—"

"Oh yeah. Sorry, I have a hard time telling the rest of you Dragonites apart."

She mumbled something under her breath that vaguely sounded like "Says you" to Shine.

"Oh, and Curio will be helping out as well. She is—"

"Very pleased to meet ya!" she said, waving a paw, "I'll be takin' over just in case Shine makes you fall asleep!"

"I was about to say she is my friend," Shine said, "But that works too." He looked over to a flat patch of grass. "Shall we sit over there?"

Petri nodded and the two dragons followed behind Shine and Curio to sit down in the spot opposite them. Accendare sat away from Petri where he dripped goo into a puddle around him.

"Well," Shine started, "Let's start by finding out more about this situation. Adele told me you're being taught by a human at the moment."

He nodded.

"And she also tells me you two don't get along very well."

"Yes, well," Petri paused, looking rather glumly to his side. "He isn't the most agreeable human on the earth. He shouts at me a lot, only just because I talk the way I do. I don't think he gets that we aren't used to speaking in growls and cries."

"Well screw him," Curio said. "Why didn't you just tell that rancher he was being an asshole?"

"I wouldn't use that language to describe him. I wanted a better teacher, sure, but I didn't want her to make a big deal out of it. She has enough work as it is maintaining all of us. Getting rid of him and going through the extra effort to find a Pokémon to replace him instead would be a waste."

"Alright," Shine interrupted, then took a deep breath. "Let's step back a bit. It sounds like you've been learning long enough for you to get past simple sentences, even from human to Pokémon. How has he been teaching you so far? Do you at least know which sounds go into each words?"

"Well, nothing advanced like that, I just play it by ear. All he does is read aloud from a book aimed at human children learning to talk and tells me to go through each exercise. It gets the job done, I guess." He made a sour face. "Although it's a little degrading."

"Ah, I see what the issue is now. You have a bad teacher."

"I do?"

"He doesn't explain the basics and expects you to skip to sentences already. It's not just bad, it's inefficient. Me and Curio learned how to do simple sentences without stopping in just a month. Does he even know how our own language system works?"

"He never said anything about it, he just told me it didn't need explanation."

"It depends, but it helps to understand how to properly transition from Pokémon to human speech. But, let's backtrack here. One element of speech most Pokémon are exposed to is move commands. Have you ever wondered how we're able to understand those commands and how our powers correlate to it on instinct, without stopping to think what those words mean?"

"Well, kind of. The more I think about it, the more it confuses me."

"You see, we're able to understand it instantly because our language system is exactly the same. Same modes of address, same tenses, same manners of speech, all of these get passed down from one generation of Pokémon to the next as they communicate with each other, but how exactly we're able to pick up on it so fast is still a mystery. What separates us from humans are the sounds we use. Really stop to think about what sounds you're making when you say a word like 'hello' in your own tongue, then what sounds are used when you say the same thing in human. Listen to me, for instance."

Shine let out a friendly snarl, which was what it sounded like to the untrained human ear.

"What did that sound like?"

"Oo-arr-or."

"And in human."

Shine greeted Petri in the same tone of voice, except in human tongue.

"Now, what did that sound like?"

"Hell-oh!"

"That's right, but there's one other thing your teacher neglected to mention. Since you learned to say that by ear, you're picking apart the sounds by syllables, which means you're doing it by the breaks of the words. But sound is a lot more complicated than that, which boils down to the vibrations your tongue makes when speaking. These are what we call phonemes, the little sounds that make up each word. Hello is more than just those two syllables. If we break it down by its proper sounds, what you have is 'ha', 'ell' and 'oh'. These are similar to the sounds you heard in our own tongue."

"That... sounds a lot more complicated than I'm used to."

"Don't worry, it was complicated for me at first, and at one point, I found it easier just to break it down into syllables. But once I knew how much work went into it and how to pronounce it phonetically, it sounded natural to me. I'll promise not to make it boring for you, but if you do, we can take a break. How does that sound?"

"I'm still a little confused, but I can manage. To be honest, you sound like you know what you're doing more than that human."

Shine glanced to his side, and saw that Curio had fallen asleep with her bag tucked under her head like a pillow. He gave a hard look at her, but brushed aside her sloth and continued with Petri.

"I'll have to see that for myself. The important thing is that you're learning faster already. This will be good for you too, Accendare, since this is the sort of thing I started out with too. Now, let's put that into practice, shall we?"

For the next couple of hours, Shine broke down the fundamentals of speech and gave Petri and Accendare brief definitions of linguistics, and worked through some of Petri's problem areas such as his monotonous speech patterns. Petri was the most engaged over Accendare who listened attentively but only contributed to the conversation occasionally. If anything, Shine got the feeling she was bothered by something given how silent she was.

Curio, on the other hand, had snored through the entire half session, so loudly and conveniently placed whenever Shine talked that he suspected she was doing it on purpose. When Petri suggested they would go on break, Curio woke up herself without anyone having to nudge her.

"What're we doing?" she said, stretching her paws.

"Petri wants to go on break," Shine said.

"Yeah, um," Petri said, "How long is long enough, would you say? I'm no good with minutes."

"Depends on what you want to do."

"Okay, how about a few games of Dodge?"

This was a simple and efficient game to play as a Pokémon, as it involved dodging whichever projectiles came somebody's way with whatever elements each Pokémon type had at their disposal. Shine nodded. He didn't need to ask Curio if she would join in as she ran to another spot with Petri, leaving her bag behind. Shine stayed in place, simply watching the two trade blows with each other, as Curio threw aura spheres the size of tennis balls at Petri, and he threw globs of slime at her in return. Both were light on their feet, even Petri who was twice Curio's size.

Shine looked to his side and found Accendare by herself picking daisies with her claws. He inched closer to her, shifting his attention back and forth between the game and the Dragonite.

"Is it alright if I call you Accy?"

She shrugged.

"Well Accy, I just want to make sure everything's alright. You've been mostly quiet, after all."

She nodded, giving him a faint smile.

"I was curious, why did you decide to join us? You must've had something good in mind when you thought about learning human."

"Of course," she said, trying to put together a daisy chain, "I want to be able to talk to Adele."

"Sounds fair enough." Shine relaxed and lied down on the grass. "Was there anything you wanted me to relay to her, though?"

After fumbling around with the chain for a while, Accy stopped and broke it apart.

"No, it's something I have to do myself. I'm not sure you'd understand."

Shine craned his head up to look at Accy, who stared off into the distance, deep in thought. Shine wanted to find out what exactly he wouldn't understand. but something in her tone suggested it was an issue she didn't want anyone prying into. Accy suddenly turned to Shine and stood up, towering over him.

"I'm sorry," she said, distancing himself away from him, "I didn't mean to sound rude. Forget it."

Shine's maw hung open, trying to find the right way to respond. Something was clearly bothering her, he thought, but he didn't know how to approach it or what the problem could be. It was at times like these that he wished he had Curio's aura capabilities. Instead, he stood up and chased after Accy, her back turned to him.

"There's no need to apologise," he said, to which, Accy turned to face, "You're entitled to your secrets, after all. But if there's anything you feel you can tell me, please do. I would be all ears."

She clasped both her paws together and nodded. Then splat. All of a sudden, a glob of slime hit Shine in the face, coating his face with the gooey substance. It didn't hurt, but his heart rate quickened when it hit him. He jerked his body to the play area to see who was responsible. It wasn't Petri who did it, but rather Curio who waved a dripping paw in the air as she grinned.

"C'mon!" Curio said," Join us!"

When he saw Curio like that, he couldn't help but laugh. He would probably need a bath to clean the goo off, but the damage had already been done. At that point, it wouldn't be any different if he were to join them for a match or two. Before he went to the duo, he turned to Accy who was sat down again.

"Would you like to join us?" he said. She shook her head and waved a paw in their direction. From then on, Shine had a few rounds of Dodge, using weak jolts of electricity as his choice of weapon. He placed last both times, falling victim to Curio's aura once and to another goo glob from Petri, this time at his side. He would now need an extra long bath to get rid of it all.

Without Shine needing to lift a paw, Curio declared that it was time to start the second half of their lesson. They returned to their circle. Before Shine could open his mouth to speak, Curio began.

"I wanna try something different, with none of the theory crap this time."

Shine was about to say something in reply, but closed his mouth again. It was pointless trying to argue.

"So," Curio said in human tongue, "Speak as well as you can without stopping, and don't worry if you get a few things wrong on the way. Tell me what you dragons get up to in this place."

"Oh," Petri exclaimed. He rubbed a wad of goo together with his paws.

"We train, like a-ny Pokémon, but we have diff-er-ent skills. I can not fly, but I can fight. We pre-pare for a long time. When we are rea-dy, we are able to go out for sa-le for a-ny trai-ner."

Curio frowned. "Doesn't that kinda suck, though? Any random jerkwad could buy you and treat you like dirt." Petri shook his head.

"Our ca-rers do not let them. A trai-ner must have a good re-cord."

"Still, you didn't ask for this, did you? You must have something you want to do for yourself."

Petri smiled at her. "I have met good trai-ners that have in-ter-est in me. They are kind to me. The people here are kind to me."

"Not that teacher."

"He is not from here. But if I can find a trai-ner who can buy me and be kind, I want to re-turn it to them. That is e-nough for me."

Curio leaned in closer to Petri, observing him. As far as Shine could tell, Petri was relaxed, and his smooth body was clean, so he could surmise he was being treated well. Petri smile grew wider when Curio peered into his eyes.

"I have no thing to hide. I am not thin-king any-thing else more than what I say here."

She nodded and pulled back.

"You're honest, I'll give you that. I've just met a lot of Pokémon before who lied to themselves about this sort of thing."

Petri nodded in reply. "I know the say-ing of your kind."

The following conversations were a lot lighter as Curio mostly asked about Petri's other activities in the ranch and his friends, and only mentioned vague details about herself when Petri asked her questions of his own, as she mentioned hearing about a few dragon ranches in Sinnoh. Shine was in the background, but this time, he let Curio go on as he could see she was encouraging Petri to speak. He thought about what he would do next time to help Petri progress further. If he could bring a chart or something like that, and possibly have Curio help him with it, it would help Petri become more fluent.

* * *

When Shine next turned to the sky, it had become a blood orange with a pale ball of fire sinking into the horizon. That was time enough to end his shift. The ranch followed suit as the majority of the Pokémon in the fields joined an organised line, waiting for something. A slimy paw tapped his shoulder which drew him out of the scene.

"Feeding time's about to begin soon, so I think that's all for now. Thanks, Mr. Shine and Ms. Curio."

He felt like blushing if he could. It was the first time in a while somebody addressed him so formally, let alone a Pokémon. Shine turned and bowed to him.

"You're welcome, Petri. I hope to see you again soon."

"Me too!" Petri gave him a wink before charging into the open field to join the rest of the Pokémon. He heard a few heavy steps plod behind him uneasily. Accendare hadn't joined the rest of the group yet. Curio stretched a few metres behind them.

"What's wrong?" Shine said.

Accendare's eyes signalled over to the barn, lips creased into a frown.

"Um, you two might want to head to the house soon. Feeding time gets a little, um, violent."

The duo's expressions didn't change, although there was a mutual understanding of what the situation was.

"Um, thanks, you two. I think I, um, learned a lot."

"You're welcome Accendare. Feel free to join us any time you like."

She nodded and sat down, staring at her feet. Something in Shine's gut told him this was a situation he would have to see unfold through his own eye. He turned and nodded to Curio, who caught up with him and padded through the open area on the way to the farmhouse's path. While they walked, they stayed silent for a bit, Curio absent mindedly picking at her ears with a tiny bone she cast from her Bone Rush.

"Did you notice something odd about Accendare?" Shine said at last.

"Nope," she said, tossing the bone swab aside, "Nothing at all."

A part of him wasn't convinced by Curio's tone, but he felt no need to press further.

"Must be my imagination."

When they arrived, they faced the back of the barn, which forked into two paths at each side leading to the house. They chose the one on the right and on the way there, they passed by two members of staff who lugged around two wheelbarrows full of Pokéballs. Shine couldn't take his eye off it until they were out of his sight, knowing full well what purpose it had. Curio, however, didn't bat an eye.

Once they were in the house area, which was connected to the back of the barn, Shine caught a pleasant whiff of various cooked meats and felt his own stomach rumble. Despite the carnage that was about to unfold outside, he put those morbid thoughts to rest in favour of finding out what the scene was. Up a small flight of stairs beside them, a door stood ajar leading into the kitchen where various aproned staff worked. Shine's paws started moving on their own, then he stopped himself as any sane person wouldn't let any Pokémon waltz into their food storage. Curio didn't hesitate to make her presence known as she took the first step up.

"We can't just walk in there," Shine called out. Curio only waved a paw back.

"It'll be fine," she said. "Just follow your nose."

She strutted into the house as Shine followed, desperate to convince her to come back outside. When he came in, he was surprised to see the staff hadn't sicced their Pokémon on them or raised their knives in self defence. Rather, they continued working quietly, slicing up steaks of meat and adding them to the stew pot on a primitive looked flame-fueled stove. Only one person faced them and even then he seemed pleased to see the two.

"You the two new teachers everybody's raving about?"

Shine didn't know how to respond, so he just nodded in reply. The man smiled and pointed to the door on his right.

"Dining room's past there. The missus will be down in the jot, she just asked to see you two fed for your work today."

Curio gave Shine a smug look that said 'told you so'.

"Oh, thank you sir," Shine said.

"No need to be so formal. Go on, what're you waiting for?"

Without a word, the two headed to the dining room. Once they opened the door, they saw a chaotic gathering of various people of different ages, including the two assistants from before, all seated around one long table. Oddly enough, it didn't fit the entire length of the room as there was still a bit of space left after the table ended, after which an unused smaller table sat perpendicular at the end of the room. When their presence became known among the group, an elderly man shakily raised his hand.

"Come here, you two." He spoke with the pleasant weariness of old age, and the duo stood beside his wheelchair at the far end of the table. He peered at them with his sunken eyes.

"Yes, such an interesting couple you make. Adele told me you two fit each other."

Curio blinked. "And you are?"

The elderly man leaned in closer, cupping his ear. "Terribly sorry. Can you repeat that?"

Curio grunted. "What's your name?"

"Sorry, one more time?"

"Who are ya, ya old fart?" she said, practically shouting at him. The man leaned in, taking in Curio's comment. Shine gave her a severe look and nudged her. In response, she punched him in his side.

"Ow," he said, "Forgive my friend's manners, sir." Loud enough, this time.

As if to cut the tension short, the old man gave a hearty laugh which devolved into a cough. He cleared his throat.

"Not to worry. I know I've become a bag of bones as of late. Strange. A Pokémon comes up to speak to me in a language I understand and I have to tell them to repeat it. My ears must be cursed."

"You don't seem terribly surprised you have two speaking Pokémon before you."

The old man shook his head. "I've seen a few speaking Pokémon during my career as a rancher. For some jobs, it's a necessary skill for dragons to possess if team communication is important with their trainers. My daughter will tell you as much."

"So you're Adele's father?"

He smiled. "Indeed. You can call me Remy." His attention turned away from the two to something behind them. "Here come the tots."

They turned to see three children coming towards them, one boy no older than ten pointing at them.

"Ooh, ooh! Can you say hello?" he asked.

"Um, hello?" Shine said, not knowing what to expect. The children squeed and Shine suddenly found himself bombarded with hugging arms and grabbing hands that were two eager to pet his coat.

"He said it!"

"Aw," a girl said, "I wanna take him home with me!"

"Hey, don't keep him to yourself, I wanna pet him too you know!"

Shine sat still as they petted and patted at him in all sorts of ways, not wanting to offend any of them but was trying to find a way to get them to kindly get lost. All things considered, Shine was glad Tony didn't have plans to have kids yet, or that a younger trainer took Tony's place instead. Curio, however, opened her arms, welcoming them with a toothy grin.

"C'mere" she said, "You can't let that stick in the mud have all the fun."

Mercifully, the children stopped grabbing at Shine and gave Curio the attention she craved, crowding around her. One reached out to stroke underneath her chin, when she lowered herself to let them as the rest joined in. In the midst of it all, Curio closed her eyes and started panting, seemingly throwing all caution to the wind. That was a first for Shine. He had never seen her act so much like, well, a Pokémon in ages. One of them stepped back and pointed at the arm.

"That looks interesting."

Despite its history, Curio nodded in agreement.

"It sure is! I bet I could lift you all up with it."

"Can you?" All three asked in unison. She stepped back, crouched and outstretched it for all to grab a hold of. She stood up and soon enough, the children were swept off their feet, dangling in the air. Although Shine thought of this as another display of showboating, Shine couldn't help but enjoy the sight of it.

Then, a door opened nearby and out came Adele, dressed out of her ranching gear, revealing her long flowing hair as it swayed behind her dress. She entered, holding what appeared to be an instrument case and smiled at scene before her.

"Right, you lil' urchins. We're starting dinner in a minute so you better get seated."

There was a collective groan amongst them and they let go of Curio's arm, rushing back to their seats. Then, Adele stood in the centre at the edge of the table.

"Everyone," she called, getting the room's undivided attention on cue, "Can we please have a moment of silence for our old pal here?"

She held out the case in front of her for all to see and opened it, revealing an accordion with both of the keyboards split apart. There was a look of disappointment shared by everyone in the room.

"But how?" Jean asked.

She shrugged. "I was just practising on it and the damn thing broke on me. I thought I was quite careful with it, but oh well. It'll probably be fixed or replaced by tomorrow, but sadly it looks like I can't play for y'all tonight." Adele closed the case and sat beside her father, setting it down on the table. She frowned and gazed at Remy.

"Sorry Pa, I know how long you've had this passed around for."

He shook his head. "Don't apologise. It's just an accordion, they're replaceable. Doesn't matter when we bought it."

"I guess so." She turned to the two teachers, flushing away the look of grief from her face.

"So, how'd you two get on?"

"Rather splendidly, I think." Shine said. "Petri seems very thankful to have me as a teacher. Accendare's finding my teaching interesting too."

"That's swell to hear. It looks like you did a great job, so I thought I'd have the boys do you some grub in return."

Hearing that, Shine bowed to her. "I'm very thankful. It really wasn't necessary, I'm the one in your debt after all."

Curio gave him another punch in the side.

"Don't mind him, he's always lookin' a gift Ponyta in the mouth."

Adele shook her head. "He's just polite, that's all. But to tell you the truth, we usually make a ton of food during dinner, so what's left over gets chucked into the field for the dragons to have as a snack before settling down. Not that they don't get plenty of food as is, mind you."

He thought back to the stash of Pokéballs being wheeled to the farm and winced. Part of him wanted to ask what sort of Pokémon were being fed to the dragons there, but that went without saying. Instead, he looked over at the case still on the table and changed the subject.

"Do you play accordion?" Shine asked.

"No Shine," Curio scoffed, "She uses it to beat people to death."

To that, Adele laughed, tracing her hand over the case.

"Well, that would explain how it got so messed up. But yeah, I've been practising ever since I learned to walk. Maybe not that long back, but you get the picture. Course, I don't find as much time for it now as I did back then, but a couple of hours a night does me good."

"You should visit her one day in town if you ever get the chance to see her play," Remy said. "She's usually at The Krabby and Co. on off days."

The cooks entered the room wheeling in trolleys of trays containing everyone's meals. They served them at the tables complete with tankards of beer and afterwards, tended to Shine and Curio as they laid two trays on the floor. Both of them consisted of a bowl of cassoulet with a few slices of baguette and a water bowl for them each, except only Curio's contained cutlery. Shine bowed to them and started to sample the ingredients of the stew, filled with beans, slices of skin and tender meat that had a tangy taste to it. If Shine had to guess, it belonged to a Flaafy, which was probably being served raw and alive outside.

Shrugging it off, he continued to eat quietly, as Curio shoved spoonful after spoonful in her maw and chewed rather noisily. By the time she was finished, Shine wasn't even halfway through his.

After they were done they hung around for a bit and mingled with the other guests that took an interest in them, a lot of which were a part of Adele's extended family and others simply being her apprentices. While Curio attracted most of the attention in part due to her arm, Shine was mostly in the background of the conversation. He didn't mind this though as Curio thrived in interaction more than he considered himself to.

Once the two had enough, they decided to head home to meet Tony. Before they left, Adele told Shine of his next expected lesson, which would be in the morning the day after tomorrow. When they left the house, Shine took one look at the field separated by the fence. The chaos he imagined had died down as every Pokémon there had eaten and were dozing off as far as he could see. It was night, so it was hard to see any of the aftermath, and he thought of looking with his golden vision to see if anything had been left behind. Then, Curio gave him a hard pat on the back.

"Jeez Shine," she said, "You've been thinkin' about those damn livestock all night. It's normal, just don't pay attention to it."

"I know I shouldn't, it's just something I'll never get used to." He sighed. "Let's go, then."


	8. Ambrette's Subjects

With food in their bellies and a half day of work behind them, Shine headed back to Tony's apartment with Curio. Although Shine wasn't entirely sure how to retrace his steps back home from when Bauble dropped him off two days back, his golden vision helped guide him to where there were people. Once he got back to the city, the walk home was easy, and it gave him a sense of peace to see the fading light of the sky.

Shine led the way through the apartment complex, which was made up of several different floors, although Tony's was only on the second. When they reached the floor, it led to a balcony area that led to the entrances of each apartment. They stopped after reaching Tony's, the door with the flap at the bottom. A feeling of dread suddenly hit Shine. It was the first time he had ever gone out like this on such short notice, and didn't know how Tony would react to his departure. Nonetheless, he gulped down his pride and was ready to enter.

"Wait here," Shine said, "I'll have to get him to unlock it from the inside."

"Do what you gotta do."

Shine took a deep breath and entered through the flap. He could tell Tony had come back since the radio was on and the smell of oil drifted through the air, so he padded over to the kitchen and there he was, hunched over the grill. Without batting an eye, Tony leaned over to turn the radio off, continuing his cooking.

"Er, hello," Shine said. Even though his trainer wasn't looking, he bowed out of courtesy. "Sorry."

"That's alright," Tony said, "I'm not going to scold you for going out. Sure, I could've done with a bit more notice, but I'm glad you're back."

Shine breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing Tony's reassuring voice again took a bit of pressure off of the past few days. He curled up beside his trainer's legs, purring affectionately.

"How come you're back so late?" Tony probed.

"It's a long story," Shine said, "But for now, somebody's waiting for you to let them in."

When he heard that, Tony stopped, put the frying pan to one side and turned to Shine, wide eyed.

"You found her?" he said.

"Yes, and I wouldn't keep her waiting if I were you."

"Right, right," he jerked his head, looking from one place to another. "Where's my kit?"

One look with his golden vision told him. "It's still in your studio."

Tony rushed to the other side of the apartment and came back towing his camera case. He shakily opened it and assembled it in front of Shine, putting the camcorder and the zoom mic together. "I saw the paper Ines gave me, but how did you manage?"

It wasn't something Shine wanted to worry Tony about since he had been inches away from needing a seeing eye Pokémon to follow him around.

"Again, long story." Shine glanced behind him to look at the front door. "Can I let her in already?"

"Can I get this ready first?" Tony asked, "I want to meet her as I'm taking the shot, if you don't mind."

Curio wouldn't be too happy about being made to wait, Shine thought, but if it was necessary for Tony to film her reaction, then she could bear another minute alone. Shine nodded and Tony continued to put the equipment together. He finally turned it on and stood up, walking towards the door. Tony pressed the REC button just as they were inches away from the handle.

"Can you open this for me?" Tony said. Shine nodded and stood on his hindpaws to pull on the handle, opening the door. Nothing was there. Upon seeing this, Shine rushed out the door to see where she was, before giving his trainer an exasperated look.

"I can explain."

"I believe you."

Shine turned on his golden vision and realised what had happened. Curio had wandered off to another side of the floor for whatever reason. To catch her attention, he roared, and she took the hint, appearing not long after.

"Didn't realise how nice the view was from up here," Curio said, expression dropping. "So, you're Shine's trainer, huh? Took you long enough."

"Yes, sorry about that. I'm Tony." With his other arm free from the camcorder, he outstretched it for a handshake. "It's wonderful to meet you after all this time. I've heard a lot about—"

"Are you recording me already?" She pulled back, baring her fangs.

"Yes. I thought it would be a good shot to—"

"I don't care!" Curio raised her voice, "You can't just film me like some safari Pokémon, shut it off!"

Tony did as she said. He pointed the camera away from her.

"I was in my right to. I didn't mean any harm."

"Whatever," she said, "Can I come in now?"

"Absolutely." He backed away and allowed her to enter. She stormed through the hallway. Shine looked back at Tony, who pointed a finger to himself.

"Did I upset her somehow?" he said. Shine shook his head.

"Not as far as I know, I didn't think it would provoke her that much," He looked past his trainer to see Curio occupied in the living room. "I'll deal with Curio while you finish cooking."

Without needing Tony's approval, Shine padded over to where Curio was, poking at the various oddments on Tony's desk. One particular object caught her interest as she held it up in front of her: a framed picture of Tony and Shine together with various other people and Pokémon she hadn't met yet. Shine patted his paw on her leg, turning her away from the photo. She frowned.

"Sorry about that," Shine said, "I should've asked if it was alright for him to film before you came."

"As you should. C'mere." She fell onto the couch, putting her feet up on the table as she motioned Shine to join her. He climbed up near Curio and she held out the photo for him to see.

"Who's they?"

"Some of his friends from where he works."

"Eh." She casually tossed the frame onto the table which made a clattering noise. Shine could've turned white; it was a miracle the glass hadn't broken.

"Careful!"

"Sorry, I guess," Curio said with a shrug. She jerked her head from her right to her left. "This is where you live?"

"Don't you like it?" Shine said. "Sorry if you think it's a bit of a mess." Curio cocked an eye at him.

"You kidding? This is cleaner than most places I've been to, too clean if you ask me. You know, I'd be happy to mess this place up for you if you want."

"Look," Shine glared at her, "Can you try to be civil here? I don't want Tony to feel like an intruder in his own home."

"Civil? We're Pokémon. Besides, I'm not here to sip tea with your trainer or whatever it is he gets up to, I just want to get this thing over with."

He sighed. "Can you at least be patient with him when he talks to you? You only need to deal with him until he goes back to work tomorrow, then we practically have the whole day to ourselves."

Curio wrinkled her nose. "I won't make no promises, but I'll try."

"Good."

A minute later, Tony came in with a plate full of stir fry, sitting beside Shine. Curio gave him a look and slunk down to the floor, distancing herself from the two. He jabbed a fork into a mess of noodles and took a mouthful.

"Alright," Curio said, "Whaddya need me to do? I didn't come here to watch your stuff your face, you know."

Tony gulped down and smiled.

"I like your attitude. Didn't Shine tell you what we're doing?"

"Well, he told me, but I still don't know what this means exactly. I'm not even sure what a documentary is other than the fact it's a film. Where's the crew and the fancy props?"

"Nowhere, this is all a one man show. Now you mention it, I wish I had that kind of power, though."

"Yeah, but how does this work? Do I just talk into a camera, is that all I do? Doesn't make for a very good flick if it just has a Lucario staring into a screen."

"There's more to it than that. There are plenty of other shots I'd like to film as well, shots of you and Shine together, anything that serves the story if I'm able to. I've interviewed Shine in the past before as well, so I'll work that into the film too."

Curio stood up and pointed at Shine, baring her fangs.

"You never told me that, that makes a world of difference! Why the hell d'you bring me here if you already told him everything?"

"I haven't," Shine said, "He knows what happened up until the takeover, and after that, only a few bits and pieces off the record."

"What's that mean?"

"Off camera. The kind of things you aren't comfortable with revealing to the world yet."

"So you dragged me here to tell him for you?" Curio shook a fist at him. "What a bunch of crap! I don't want to talk about it any more than you do, so forget it!" She brought herself closer to Tony, barely touching the tip of his nose with her muzzle. "I'm not staying here just to talk so you can get rich off of me and Shine's suffering. Screw you."

Curio was about to storm off when Tony put his plate down on the table and inhaled deeply.

"Curio." His voice resounded in the house, not by shouting, but by speaking clearly and without doubt in his tone. Curio stopped short of turning the front door's handle. "I didn't ask Shine to tell his story for that reason. Since I started doing this, Shine has opened up a lot more about himself to me and is more willing to get out of the house. I've seen him smiling more often as well."

Curio turned back and slowly entered the room, standing in the corner.

"Besides, there's little money involved in this. Buying equipment has taken its toll on my wallet. On weekends, I've been spending nights looking over the footage I have and assembling it all together. It takes a lot of time to produce, what little time I get off work in the first place. So if you're worried about that, it's simply not the case."

Curio returned to her spot on the floor and crossed her arms, staring at her feet. Shine joined her and started rubbing his muzzle on her face. She ruffled her paw through Shine's mane and looked into his eye.

"Is this true?" Curio asked. Shine nodded.

"I've seen the way you reacted when I first mentioned GeL. And from what I heard, you talked little about yourself when you were back in Dendemille. Haven't you talked about this with anyone?"

Curio shook her head.

"Then now might be your chance. This will help you."

Curio moved her paw to Shine's shoulder and squeezed it.

"I didn't come here for myself. Well, I wanted to see the town, actually, but I only signed up to this interview thing to help you out, not to take a step backward into my own past."

"I might not have the same powers as you, but I can tell when something else is going on. I held it all in for a long time after my escape. It eats you up from the inside and makes you an emotional husk. I don't know how you coped with it all this time without telling anyone, and you might've done fine with it up until now, but it's hurting you too, deep down. Am I right?"

Curio kept a blank expression, not allowing Shine to read into her thoughts. Instead, she looked at Tony, who was in between another mouthful.

"I won't tell you everything at the moment," she said, "But where do you want me to start?"

Tony swallowed. "From the start. If you don't want to talk about GeL yet, talk about yourself. You were a couple of years old before you were brought there, right?"

Curio broke away from Shine and stood up.

"Wouldn't it be better if you started recording before I tell you?"

Tony nodded.

"Well then, I won't sit here smelling your noodle breath, so I'm going for a walk." She knelt down to stroke Shine's ears. "I wanna be alone for a bit, but I'll be back."

"Swear it on your tail?"

"You betcha."

* * *

An hour passed and Tony, having finished his dinner, was in the middle of assembling the lighting set up in his studio: a small room that was essentially an extension of the living room with no windows and various cabinets full of equipment. Shine sat in a corner of the room on a cushion, reading the rest of the newspaper which Tony brought back. He was deeply engrossed in the text, reading page by page. Then...

"Boo."

Curio stepped in, alerting the two to her presence. Shine jumped from his sitting position.

"You could've knocked before coming in."

"Well," Curio said, "Your trainer didn't mention anything about not coming in, so there's that."

"Point. Still, it's common practice to."

"Whatever." Curio wandered off to where Tony was, adjusting the light settings on one of the stands. "What're these for?" she said, switching to human.

"We're indoors, so we need the light to be as bright as possible."

"Huh." Curio raised a paw in front of a light, casting a shadow onto the walls and making a snapping motion with it like a puppet. "Don't really see the point of it but I guess that works. Am I ready to talk now?"

"Go for it. Tell me when you want me to record."

Curio shrugged and threw her bag onto one of the cushions before jumping on one of the seats. She squinted her eyes, holding a paw to her face.

"I'll turn it down just a bit." The light in the room dimmed, and Tony sat down next to the camera as Shine followed, sitting beside his legs. Curio crossed her arms.

"This is feeling kinda weird already. So am I just talking to myself here? Who does that?"

"It was weird for me too," Shine said, "But it helps to treat it like you're a having a conversation with someone else."

"That's right," Tony said, stroking at Shine's head, "Treat the camera as if it's not there and just look at me when you're talking. See if that helps."

"I guess." Curio fidgeted in her seat, trying to find the most comfortable position where she wasn't squashing her tail, and relaxed. She took a deep breath and smiled.

"I'm ready."

Tony nodded and held up three of his fingers in one hand and had the finger on the REC button on the other. Silently, he counted down. Then the camera beeped.

"This is interview B, first few questions, take one. Who are you?"

"Well, my name is Curio, and I'm a Lucario, I guess."

"And what do you do?"

"What do I do? Well, what do Pokémon usually do? I don't think lots of people ask that about me. I travel a lot, meet a lot of people and Pokémon, and make stuff sometimes."

"What sort of stuff?"

"Let's see..." She reached into her bag and pulled out a model of a Noctowl, similar to the Magikarp she gave, except in full scale. She turned it around in her paw.

"I was still sleeping rough in Hearthome after I escaped, and one of the things I did during the day was visit the local scrapheap for anything I could find. You find lots of interesting things humans just dump there, you know. I made friends with this wild Noctowl that browsed through the trash there, and I wanted to make this for him using the stuff I found there. I think it took me a few days. When I finished it, he only looked at it once and said his farewells, so I just kept it, I guess. That was around the time I found this bag, so I've been piling a lot of stuff on over the years. It's been a godsend, let me tell you."

"That looks good," Tony said, to which, Curio frowned.

"Yeah, for a Pokémon, you mean."

"No, I'm actually impressed. I might not look it, but that's how I feel."

There was a brief pause as Curio glared at him. By now, Shine had seen her do it often enough that he knew she was trying to read into Tony's thoughts. Then she nodded.

"Alright, I believe you."

He nodded again and stopped recording. Curio shoved the curio back into the bag, which despite looking as big as the bag itself, fit perfectly into it. She gave Tony a hard look.

"That was it?"

"No," Tony said, "I'm just separating each question per video. It saves me a lot of time by doing that instead of going at it all at once."

"Shouldn't we do try that again though? I screwed up near the end."

"It's fine. Edit it in post, as they say."

Curio leaned forward as if trying to understand what Tony was talking about, but shrugged it off and reclined back into her seat. She shot Shine a smirk.

"That wasn't half bad, actually."

Shine returned the smile.

"Alright," Tony said, "Tell me when you're ready and I'll start the next question."

"Ready."

Tony clicked the REC button again and announced the second shot to the camera.

"Now, what was your life like before you were brought to GeL?"

"Well, nothing too spectacular, that's kinda what brought me there in the first place. My parents made whoopee, Mom squeezed me out and I hatched from an egg onto a little island only me and my family inhabited. I could bore you by talking about every detail of my life as a Riolu, hell, I'm half tempted to do it just for kicks, but I'd sooner end myself with one of my spikes right here.

"Where I really want to start is how my interest in humans began. You're all such weird creatures. You can grow facial hair, you can walk on two legs, and you have completely different rules to what Pokémon have. No Pokémon could've come up with a society where they make us lesser beings fight, after all. Probably. But that's what I found so delightful about you humans; the way you moved, the way you acted, it was all strange, and I wanted to see how it all worked. That's what's led me to where I am now.

"You could say its my own fault I ended up this way, and you'd be right. But, that's life, I guess. And if this is going to be the story about my life, I should probably tell you about Mom first."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _This will be the last chapter in my backlog before I move onto Curio's story, and I haven't written the first drafts for all of those chapters yet, so I will be taking a break from uploading and will focus on getting those done. You can expect to see new chapters around September or before then, depending on how much free time I have as I will be job-seeking and looking for a new flat in preparation for my final year at Uni._

 _Thank you all for your continued support. This has been a pleasure to work on and thanks to the feedback I've gotten so far, I've noticed an immense improvement in my own writing from before I started uploading my fanfiction._

 _In case you aren't aware, I also have a DeviantArt and Tumblr account where I upload artwork related to The Curious and the Shiny, as well as original short stories and other kinds of art on DA. My DA handle is StarlightCrux and Tumblr's is thecuriousandtheshiny. Go figure._


	9. Oh Wait, We're Recording?

**_Author's note:_**

 _Hello! It's been a while since I've last published a chapter for this fic (which I believe was three months ago), but I'm back with a batch of new chapters to be released over the course of the next 9 weeks or so! This is a little bit of a departure from my usual writing style, so I hope this change pays off!_

* * *

I owe a lot to Mom for leading me to this path. Of course, said path was formed with my blood, sweat and tears, but if it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't have gone to GeL or had any interest in human life for that matter. She was my rock, a good friend of mine, and above all else, a great storyteller.

So in that way, why not start it off with a story she told me? She was the sort of Pokemon who could speak for hours on end and you wouldn't get bored, but it took a while for her to hit her stride. Before, she would either keep you up all night with stories of hunts gone awry, tales of bloodshed and other sob stories, or lull you to sleep with those about compassion between strangers, unexpected comforts in the wild and all that other sweet crap. The ones I remember the most had the best of both.

That's probably why I remember what she said, word for word, as she told it many times to me and my three brothers, plus my Dad if he ever bothered to pop in. We would sit around a campfire in the middle of our island under a tarp roof Dad brought from the mainland, huddled in one spot deep inside the forest, come rain or shine.

Out of respect, I guess I better give all my relatives names. For most Pokemon, names have little importance as they're abstract, not something you can smell or hunt. My family deserves more than that though. The two youngest were Twig and Stumpy (Both Riolus), the eldest was Trunks (A Lucario), and then there were my parents. Mom didn't have a name, but if any name was fitting for her, it would be Ruti, but she'll still be Mom for now. Dad though was another case, but I'll get to that later.

Okay, maybe I'm not that creative with names. Cut me a break.

Anyway, that night, she went through her usual rota of stories, either tragic or hilarious, and while some of them were fairly new and kept our tails on the ground, we tuned out whenever she went through something we heard one too many times. Except for Twig. The runt was entertained regardless of what you told him.

Before that though, none of her stories had names as a lot of them were interchangeable. Maybe she didn't feel as if they deserved them. That all changed when she announced this particular story would be called 'Wild Brides and Shifting Tides', the first to have a name. As she did so, the light of the fire reflected in both her red and green eyes, adding even more to the announcement. It brought us out of our slumber and we gave her our undivided attention. Keep in mind that some of the stuff kind of translates poorly to the human tongue, so think of this as my version. I won't take credit for it, I ain't trying to steal.

 _Firstly, there was a wild bride,  
who bore multi-coloured eyes and an unkempt hide.  
She would venture into alien territories  
and listen to those smooth-skinned beings' stories,  
Of those who wished to be the best and most wealthy,  
those who wanted to travel and those who wished to be healthy.  
She would listen for days, enthralled by their song,  
and wishing deep down that she could become one._

Secondly, there was the melancholic groom  
whose eyes were a dull red, but fur fine as a bundled broom.  
He had lived amongst those alien creatures  
who once acted as his guardians and teachers,  
only to be released into the wild yonder,  
and with no one to care for him, he left to aimlessly wander.  
He would hunt alone with a void growing in his heart,  
and wished to find someone to bond with, to make a new start.

One day, the bride met one such alien up close,  
face furious and frightening, and clad in dark clothes,  
he summoned a beast, one devoid of compassion,  
as it clawed at the poor bride in such a ruthless fashion.  
It overpowered her and left her in a state of rapture,  
wracked with bruises and cuts, she was doomed for capture,  
then the wanderer heard her cries,  
and dashed to her as swiftly as a Wingull to the skies.  
He stood between the bride and the beast,  
warding it and the alien off, at last she was at peace.

When she next awoke, her body felt anew,  
as if a spell had been cast on her, it ended all so soon,  
the wanderer stood before her, offering his paw,  
and for the rest of their days, they ventured together forevermore.

We sat there stunned. While most of us were still trying to process what we heard, Stumpy of course started sobbing, which ruined the mood a little. Trunks tried to comfort him by rubbing his back. It worked, and eventually Stumpy worked his way down to sniffling every once in a while. A minor improvement. Regardless, when Mom asked us if we enjoyed it, we all said it was the best she ever told. Even though Twig was easy to please, he had to ask what it all meant. Any Riolu with half a brain could've put two and two together and figured out who the characters of the story were.

Although most of my siblings didn't question the meaning of the story as far as I knew, I was curious about the aliens she talked about in her story. I could tell she meant the alien wasn't a Pokemon, but if that was the case, what was it? The sort of things she talked about like the smooth skin and the clothes were new to me, so I wanted to find out about it.

When it was time to sleep, me and my siblings settled down for the night, and I closed my eyes. Yet, I couldn't sleep. That was a first. No matter what I did to try and lull myself back to sleep, repeating one of the other stories Mom told me about a Skitty who ate that rare berry once and had the best dream in its short lifespan afterwards (not a very interesting story to be honest), her story kept coming back to me. Damn her. If the lines didn't have so much rhythm and flow, I probably wouldn't have obsessed over it so much. I tossed and turned for what must've been an hour before I decided I had enough.

I opened my eyes again, staring at the swaying leaves that blocked the sky, then I stood up, slinking past my sleeping siblings and taking care not to trip over their tails. I went looking for Mom. I needed answers.

At night, my parents usually did whatever they felt like doing while we slept. During the day, they would look after us, teach us how to sustain ourselves on the island when they eventually passed away, played with us on the treetops or by the sea, or helped us fish for food for the day.

Just to digress a bit, there weren't a lot of food choices on the island. Nothing inhabited it beside us, so there was little to hunt. I remember when Dad tried to teach all of us a bit about farming after he planted some seeds he gathered from the mainland and told us to wait for it to grow while remembering to give it water from the lake from time to time. No matter how much he tried, nothing grew, so he ruled it out as the land not being fertile enough for any crops. I didn't really understand what he meant at the time so I just went along with it.

I could end the story here and say my family starved to death and I survived by eating them, but thankfully, there was always Magikarp around for us to gather.

They swam close to the shoreline and because of that, we didn't have to hold our breaths to catch them. We would grab them with our paws and bite down on their necks so they wouldn't flail around. Nice and easy. After that, my parents would take our findings and debone them. It was extra effort as we could've just as easily eaten them raw, but my parents preferred to make dishes out of them, particularly skewers and steaks, which they cooked over the fire. If we were particularly lucky, we would find an Octillery, gang up on it and make a meal out of that. Those tasted even better. Now I mention it, I could murder an Octillery right now.

Crap, I'm getting a bit sidetracked, aren't I?

In any case, I searched for my parents on the outer rim, which didn't take very long. Even though I couldn't quite read thoughts yet, the aura still connected me with everyone on the island as we shared a link together. We were never too far away as the island wasn't particularly big; you could decide to go on a hike around its perimeter in the morning and there would still be plenty of sun after you were finished. I ran towards their wavelengths then crept behind a tree as the two rough-housed in a patch of grass. This was how they usually de-stressed after a day looking after our own scrawny asses. It wasn't something they liked to have interrupted. I couldn't wait, though. I rushed into the fray, climbing on top of Dad's head as he was charging up an aura sphere.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he shouted, grasping at his head to catch me. He picked me up by the skin of my neck like some ragdoll. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Well," I said, "Ya looked like you were having fun, so I thought I'd join ya!"

Dad shook his head and smiled, turning me over to meet my mother's gaze.

"How should we punish her then?"

Mom, always the one to come up with stuff on the fly, flashed that toothy grin of hers.

"Throw her in the ocean and have her sleep with the fishes?"

"No please!" I pleaded in mock horror, "Anythin' but that!"

Dad let me go without warning and I fell on my ass. While I nursed my tail, the two stood before me, arms crossed.

"Seriously, pup," he said, "Your kind should be sleeping by now. Why are you here?"

"Well, I can't stop thinkin' about the story Mama told me."

"That's it? If I knew it would give you nightmares, I wouldn't have asked her to tell it."

I stood up, waving my paws in the air.

"No, no! It wasn't scary or anythin', I loved it! I can't stop thinkin' about the lines and I can't rest cause of that, and it won't let up til I find out what they're about and—"

"Okay," my mother stopped me, "I see what you mean. What did you want to ask?"

"The aliens and such. I know the rest actually happened to you two, but it hurts my head to think about what they're supposed to be."

At that moment, I picked up a sharp change of emotions emanating from Dad's aura. It was an awful mix of fear and sadness, although his face didn't change. What he was actually thinking about, I had no idea. I have a hunch now though, but that's for another time.

Mom picked me up and stroked my ears.

"Honey, I'd like to talk with her alone for a bit."

He gestured a paw for her to come closer to him, and he whispered in her ears. I tried to lean in to listen, but they pulled away before anything could reach me. Then, Mom came towards me and carried me over towards the sea away from Dad, sitting on a rocky area. She looked at me with a caring aura.

"How much do you know about both our pasts?"

"Well, not a lot, you never chatted to me about it, but there's a lot about 'em in the stories. I know there's more out there, with all kindsa Pokemon with different looks from ours, not just on this rock. Them Magikarps had to come from somewhere."

"Well spotted, dear." She turned to face the ocean, waves illuminated by the moonlight. "We're in a series of islands known as, well, it's not easily explained." She meant an archipelago. "Even bigger than that, we're in the region known as Sinnoh, a large cluster of land. That's where the aliens live." She turned to face me again. "Well, that's a little bit of a lie."

"Aw c'mon," I said, eyeing her with scorn. "Why'd you lie?"

She sighed, giving me a pat on the back.

"It's mostly to do with Dad. He has some memories he doesn't want to dig up. But let's say aliens aren't the correct word for them. Rather, they're humans."

I won't go through every detail of what she said as it's common sense to any Pokemon who hasn't been living under a rock, let alone a human, but she went on to explain what they were like. Smooth skinned, wore clothes, grew facial hair, could mostly walk on two legs and bla bla bla. Then she went on to explain how the world worked and what Pokemon were to them.

"Why do they want to capture us?" I said.

"So they can train us and take us along with them on their quest to be the best, whatever that's supposed to mean."

"Doesn't sound fun."

To that, Mom laughed, pulling me closer to her.

"I never thought it would be much fun either, and I'm glad I was never captured. Your father, however, didn't really have much choice."

At that point, a light switch went off in my head. I thought back to the story and the info she gave me on the true nature of those aliens, or rather, humans. Mom must've read my thoughts since she squeezed me tightly, even closer to her.

"So I shouldn't trust them?"

"It's complicated. Maybe if things were different, but let's just say that you should avoid them for now. They shouldn't come anywhere close to this island, and if they do, your father will chase them off, you hear?"

I hummed in reply and rubbed my head. It was a lot to take in. Then, Mom pulled me away from her and put both paws on my shoulders, locking me in her gaze.

"I can see you're confused so I'll leave it there for now. If you're curious to find out more, let me know and we can talk some more at night, or even with your eldest brother if you wanted as he's had his share of experience. But," she moved her paws up to hold my head, "Please don't talk about this with anyone else, especially not your father. The others don't need to know yet and he doesn't want to relive those memories. Keep thinking back to that story and what I told you if you have trouble understanding. Am I clear?"

I was speechless. My gut still told me to ask more, but I could take a hint, so I nodded, if it gave me any excuse for her to stop leering at me.

"Good," she said, "Now, go get some sleep."

Before I went, she pulled me in again and craned her head to lick me on the face, then let me go for me to make my own way back to our den. Thankfully, no one else was awake to ask me what I was doing up so late, so I curled up back into my spot and rehearsed the story again in my head. After a few repeats, a pang of anger welled inside me. Was that really what life was like outside that island? What would happen if one of those humans came down to our island? Or worse, what would happen if they met me? Over time, I got more tired as the questions faded into the background, and I went to sleep not long after.


	10. My First Weird Encounter

I didn't bother asking any more questions for quite some time. For a while, everything fell into a routine as we hunted Magikarp as normal, we playfighted as normal, we told stories as normal, we slept as normal, repeat and repeat. Although I was satisfied with the answers I got and faced every day as it came, over time, a pit grew in my stomach and I didn't realise what this hunger was until I saw a bird Pokémon perch itself atop the trees as I walked across the shore. It probably knew there was more out there, and that's what I felt was missing, the sense of being connected to the rest of the world.

I felt a burning sensation in my paws and sprang towards the forest, climbing to the treetops in no time. That's when I saw a Pokémon a few trees away, preening its feathers. I balanced myself on one of the highest tree branches and jumped from tree to tree in an effort to get close to it. Soon enough, I was within paws length of it.

Now, some details for me are a bit fuzzy, since it was a long time ago and I don't remember every weird looking thing under the sun, but if memory serves me correctly, I believe it was a Wingull I saw. It had that same blue streak across its coat, after all.

Anyway, it eyed me cautiously, and suddenly, I felt giddy. This was my chance to find out about the outside world. My chance to talk with something else other than Riolu and Lucario. Who knows. Maybe as a bonus, I could've hunted it and brought it back for my parents to cook. Don't knock it until you've tried it, after all.

"Hey, can you tell me what's out there?" I asked. It just blinked.

"More idiots like you asking us random questions."

"That's it? C'mon, there has to be somethin' else."

It took flight and fluttered above me. Then, a white runny liquid hit the top of my head and ran down my face. I don't need to mention what it was.

Panicked, I lost my footing and fell off the branch. I got smacked by all sorts of different branches on the day down until a bush broke my fall, not without scratching me with those brambly bits. To say I was sore afterwards was an understatement. Nothing was broken, thank his holy ass, just bruised and battered all over. To add insult to injury, I stank. I had to get the acrid stench off of me as soon as I could, so I limped to the closest stream I could find in the forest running from the lake and dunked my head in it several times to wash it off. Even after I rinsed off the droppings, a whiff of it still lingered.

Pro tip number one: if you talk to any unknown Pokémon unannounced, especially bird Pokémon, they probably won't stick around for the conversation. At best, you'll get a face full of bird seed.

I ran my paws through my coat to find all sorts of splinters sticking to it. I tried to pick most of it off but I wasn't sure if it had gotten in places I couldn't reach. I had to get them out or they probably would've gotten septic, even though I had no idea what 'septic' meant at the time. It was something Trunks told me after all.

Lo and behold, I picked up his aura not too far off, straight from the path of the stream into the lake. Although my legs were sore, I found my way there without trouble. He had already occupied himself, meditating by the lake at the edge of the bank. The tire swing swayed lightly in the breeze far away. Once I stepped into the clearing, he turned around and scoffed.

"Alright," he said, "What trouble have you gotten into now?"

I scratched my back.

"I got splinters in my butt."

"Seriously? Alright, come here then."

I sat on the bank beside him, dipping my paws into the water, and Trunks started combing through my fur.

"You don't always need to climb so high, you know."

"And what's the problem? I was just takin' a peek up there."

"Yes, but you're going to break your neck if you keep falling." He paused as he pulled out something brambly behind me. I winced. "And you could use a long bath too."

I sat in silence while he kept checking for splinters, and I thought back to what Mom had told me a while back.

"Tell me, why do you want to get off the island?"

"How'd you know?"

"Your aura, of course."

"Well, why not?" I said, kicking the water, "I wanna see the world out there."

"There's nothing out there but predators and starvation. That's all."

"Aw c'mon, Mama told me you had experience out there before, can't you tell me more?"

"No. Trust me when I say you don't need to know."

I pulled myself away from his grasp and turned to him, giving him those little Riolu eyes.

"Please? I swear I won't be upset or anythin'. I kinda know the world sucks already, so at least tell me more about that."

He brushed a few more shavings off my coat, then leaned in closer to the point where his muzzle touched mine, gazing at my with those eyes. Those blood red eyes. Even when it's coming from your own kind, the glare of a Lucario can still send shivers down your spine.

"Alright, you want to know how the world out there works? You're completely on your own, with the threat of death lurking all around you. You must always be on alert, never letting your guard down for a moment, or else..."

He clapped, snapping me out of his trance.  
"You're gone."

He stared into the lake ahead of us, and up to the hanging tire.

"There was a family, just like us, who we kept company for a little while. Some of them were just about your age. They still had to look out for themselves, as whenever we rested, we had to cover our own families in shifts to make sure nothing else lurked around. One such Lucario, who was supposed to be on shift for that night, forgot about it and rested with his family. We were woken up by their screams, and when we came to check on them, they..."

Trunks' voice trailed off and he rubbed his eyes, taking a deep, ragged breath. I looked on, wanting to get closer to him, but pulling away. I didn't really know how to comfort him in times like that. So I waited for him to pull himself together, and in time, he looked at me once more, resting his paw on mine.

"Out here, you don't have to worry about any of that. You have a constant food source. There are no tall creatures with poisonous claws lurking about. There are none of those bastards invading our habitats either. Both Mom and Dad worked so hard to get us here, and now here we are, living in peace. You should be thankful for that."

"Yeah, I am. But isn't every day here kinda the same? Don't you get bored?"

"Well," he hesitated, and I felt a tinge of sadness in his aura if I didn't already, "I would be lying if I said this isn't boring, but I'd rather be that instead of in some other creature's stomach."

I opened my mouth to say something but decided against it. I knew he was right. From the stories Mom told and all that, I thought of myself in his shoes. Well, you know we don't wear them, but you know what I mean. I imagined myself on my own, defending myself from creatures much faster, stronger and less caring than me, as I would later find out first hand. Still, there was that itch to find out, like sticking your paw in a Combee's nest.

Mercifully, he let me go and patted my back, letting me know it was okay to move on before he got stuck in another one of his rants. He smiled to me.

"There, it should be fine now. Make sure to clean those wounds or else they'll get infected."

"Okay," I said, and took a dip in that lake. I closed my eyes and let myself float on the surface, water lapping gently at my face, with Trunks meditating in the background.

You know, I never got why certain Pokémon are so obsessed with meditating. I never saw the need for it in GeL, unlike some other Pokémon, and later than that, I found myself training with some withering old Medicham on a whim, and it was ass-numbingly boring, literally. Why would any Pokémon or human think it helps to sit still, doing nothing for hours on end? Whoever came up with the idea should've been thrown into the sea from up high.

When I opened my eyes next, I noticed Trunks was gone, so I thought I'd go off on my own and swim out. It still hurt to walk, but nevertheless, I skipped through the woods and felt an even stronger resolve in me. I had to find a way off the island somehow. I was sure I could've taken what the world threw at me. Or was I? Trunks' story still lingered in my head, following my around like a homing cloud, but still, if I didn't find out what obstacles the outside world entailed, I never would've been satisfied. All I had to do was search the island for a route to the closest neighbouring bit of land and go from there. I skipped for a while, unaware of where I was heading.

When I finally came out of the woods into the shore, that's when I saw it for the very first time with my own eyes. It was a human.

I froze at the sight of it. Or rather, she and her Prinplup. Again, I didn't know at the time what species it was exactly, but with that beak and that deep blue body, it does kind of narrow it down. But yeah. I don't know what I expected humans to look like, even when Mom gave me an idea of their appearance. She made it sound like they were monsters, but to me, they just seemed like another species, like a Pokémon. Although I didn't know it yet, she was a trainer, just like Mom said: she grew hair, wore clothes and had smooth skin. She was dripping wet for whatever reason and didn't have a lot of clothes covering her.

For that moment, time stood still. When she saw me, she whispered something to that blue Pokémon of hers and it stood in front of her in a battle stance.

I realised the kind of situation I was in rather quickly. I was about to get into a fight and I was still standing there, dumbstruck. At the same time though, there was a chance they only looked to defend themselves from a wild Pokémon, and only acted out of survival instinct. I had questions as well, and driving them to attack me was the last thing I wanted to happen. A friendly approach seemed better than a pointless fight after all. I snapped out of my headspace and called out to them, waving a paw in the air. The Prinplup eased its stance a little and I slowly approached them. The girl's expression was still a little unsure.

"I'm not gonna harm y'all," I said, "I just wanna talk, okay?"

The Prinplup held its paw out to the trainer. It could've been a ceasefire or a command to attack, but thankfully the trainer smiled, letting me know we were at peace with each other. She crouched so she could be at my level.

She then went on to speak. Her mouth moved, but I couldn't understand a word of what she said, but either way, her voice was reassuring and warm in a way you wouldn't get from a Riolu or Lucario, which mostly sounds like we're hacking up hairballs.

Anyway, she chuckled and started petting my head. Those hands. Joy overtook reason and I growled the same way I would've with Mom. Then that squawky voice had to ruin the moment.

"Ugh, I'm going to vomit."

I couldn't hear what the human was saying, but the way they went back and forth with each other as if they understood each other seemed strange to me.

"Wait," I said, "Can you understand her?"

The Prinplup scoffed.

"Yeah, duh."

"No duh! Can she understand you though?"

"Nope. She just has a good ear for disapproval."

That was a let down. Even if Mom told me beforehand, I wasn't used to being ignored like that. Still, that wouldn't stop me from getting my way if I could make the Prinplup relay what I said back to her, somehow. The trainer continued petting me.

"How'd you get here?" I asked.

"Surfed here."

"Surfed? Nevermind. Say, can you take me with you for a bit? Just for a little, tiny bit. I wanna come back here though."

The Prinplup put his flipper on the girl's shoulder and pointed to her belt, then back to me. I looked up to see several shiny balls coloured red and white. No points for guessing what their purpose was. I didn't know at the time so I just stared at them until the trainer pulled away from me. She smiled and said something else in that same warm tone, then pulled out on of those balls and held it in front of me. She looked at me expectantly, pointing to the Pokéball she held up. I raised my paw to it.

I wonder what would've happened had I touched that Pokéball and went with her. She seemed nice, after all. I probably would've avoided all the stuff that happened at GeL beforehand. Maybe we could've spent the rest of our days together if she was planning on taking me. But I wouldn't be here talking right now and I wouldn't have met you guys if I did.

"GET AWAY!" Dad's voice resounded through the air. The trainer broke off from me and in turn, I looked to Dad as he dashed towards the two. Not knowing what else to do, I ran away from them, getting as far as I could in the way of the ensuing battle.

Without prompt, Dad threw an aura sphere at the Prinplup's head. He blocked it with a flipper, knocking him back several places. The trainer ran to his place and pointed at Dad, shouting a command of some sort. He spouted a stream of water from his mouth. It was quick, but Dad was quicker, dodging to the side as he threw a punch at his face. It hit. Even when the Prinplup fell to the floor, Dad still didn't stop. Punch after punch, the Prinplup could only shield himself. Then, the girl stood between them.

I could see how fearful she was through her pained expression and her aura. When you're faced with a creature that has freaking spikes in their paws, you're pretty much at their mercy. Nevertheless, she spoke in a calm voice to him, although I wasn't sure how much good it would do. Would he even understand her?

 _"Get out,"_ he said in human tongue. Those were the first words I understood in human. He said it so plainly, yet from his aura, I knew he was hiding a massive amount of anger, so it had an impression on me.

She helped the Prinplup to his feet and departed not long after, setting sail on its back to surf across the sea.

I stood in silence. I hadn't seen Dad act like that before, not even when he was telling us off. Then, he walked towards me, still having that raging look on his face. My heart quickened a bit as he approached. I bet he could've killed me right then and there if he willed it to. Then, he knelt down and picked me up, cradling me in his paws.

"Are you alright, young pup?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good." He gently lifted me down to the rocky floor and I saw his expression was a bit more relaxed, although those red eyes still stared into my soul. "In the future, if you're ever to meet one of those things again, run as far as you can. Don't go up to them. If they let them capture you, they will make your life a living hell, do you understand?"

I didn't know what to say at the time so I just nodded and went along with it. My family came not long after, giving me lots of relieved hugs, and we had a big serving of Grilled Magikarp not long after. We ended the night with our usual set of stories and all was well again. Well, sort of. Despite what Dad told me, meeting a human for the first time wasn't even a bad experience, a far cry from what Mom made it out to be. That itch inside still nagged at me, and it was something that could only be scratched by meeting another human again. Those thoughts within me faded away as I dozed off.


	11. Bottoms Up, Bro

The next time I encountered a human must've been a while after the last one. Well, two humans to be exact. I don't know how long the gap was, maybe only a season, but it felt like a year.

The day started when we tried to cool off from a recent fish hunt. We brought our findings to our parents, who thanked us and let us run off to wherever, so we decided to go to the lake again where the tire swing waited. It was another one of the island's curiosities alongside the tarp, since you know, tires don't grow on trees. To this day, I kind of question how Dad managed to bring all the stuff there, but young me didn't care as it was for swinging on, not pondering on. I went on top and held onto the rope as Stumpy kicked the tire in the air, pushing me into the air and letting me swing for a bit.

Brings me back, that does. I remember it being nice, as sometimes, it felt like I was flying. But with the thoughts of escape still following me around, as well as the bird type Pokémon that flew carefree in the air already, it was close to being free, and yet, so far. Wait, I did say it wasn't for pondering on, didn't I? Well then, forget what I said.

Stumpy must've noticed a little bit of my aura, just a little as he wasn't any better than me than reading emotions, as he moved out the way, slowing me down.

"I didn't say stop, did I?" I said, spinning around on the tire.

"Yeah, I know, but why're you feeling so sad lately?"

The little glimpses I caught of his face as I spun around told me he was worried.

"Aw, it's nothin' to lose sleep over."

"It's not that human from before, is it?"

"What?" I waited for the right moment to jump, then leapt off to the land where Stumpy stood. "No, not at all. Really, that was the most interestin' thing I'd seen in a while.

"They're not interesting, they're dangerous. Papa doesn't want you going near them."

I groaned. At often times, Stumpy would repeat something along the lines of 'Dad doesn't want you doing this', which is fair enough. Hearing it repeated several times over got annoying, and seeing how little brothers generally behave over the years to others, they tend to get under your skin.

"So what does Papa want you to do?"

He put his paw on his chin as if he was seriously thinking hard about what I just said. "Um, he wants me to be good, and stuff."

I grinned at him. "Would you eat his own crap if he told you it tasted nice?"

"Ew, no!" he said, laughing.

"Well then," I reached down to him, locking him in a hold and knuckled his head while he chuckled, "Don't do everythin' he tells you to do."

"Stop!" He pulled away, rubbing his head. "You hurt, sis."

"Oh, you baby." I glanced at the hanging tire in front of us. "Want me to push you?"

"Yeah," he said, climbing on top of the rubbery object, "Not too hard, though."

And so, it was my turn to do the rounds. I kicked once and watched the tire fly up with Stumpy hanging onto the rope for dear life. He was clearly not meant for big heights as he howled in the air, but if there's anything I've learned over the years, there's a thin line between excitement and fear, and he was on the left side of that line. I stepped back whenever the tire swang towards me, as one wrong move would've knocked me on my ass, and continued kicking it forward, sending it further into the air.

Stumpy must've called me to do something, but since he was so far up, I didn't hear him. So when he came down once more, I kicked at the tire, only for Stumpy to be knocked off balance, making him fall into the lake. He hit the water with his back to the surface, creating a loud slap. I winced. Even I felt that one. I waited for him to swim up, and he did, only to start wailing. He continued crying as he swam to the edge of the bank.

"I told you to slow down! I'm telling Mama about this!"

I tried to reach over to him to calm him down, but he batted my paw away from him. He ran, disappearing into the forest. I shrugged and made my own way to the shore. It was best to leave him be during one of his fits.

I went wandering through the stony shore again, which must've been the tenth or twentieth time since I met the last human. The sun often bored down on the rocks, so it used to burn my paws on the first hundred paces. It felt nice once I got used to it. Since then, I had been around the island enough times to know where the landmarks were, what little it had, and could've mapped it out if you gave me a pencil and a pad.

Problem was, it was nice and all knowing where everything was in your head, but being able to make it a physical thing would've helped me understand the terrain more. Another problem was marking and remembering each island that looked the closest. Measuring was easy. You could put one finger at the end of your paw on the horizon and flex the end of the other to where the height of the island ended. Whichever you had to flex the farthest was the closest. But with no way to mark where each island was in relation to this one and what point you had to be on the shore to be the closest to a neighbouring island, it was just guesswork. I would trust my intuition though, as my legs never failed me when it came to swimming. I could've swam for hours and not have gotten tired, after all.

I must've walked a few hours on the edge of the shore until I saw those two humans I talked about earlier. I wasn't even sure of what they were from that distance; they could've passed for a couple of tree branches for all I knew. But once I got within a rock throwing distance of them and saw what they truly were, just a young couple sunbathing on the rocks, I retreated back into the forestry.

Despite how much I wanted to stick it to my old Mon, his nagging voice telling me to 'run as far as you can' drilled into my head and followed me around like a swarm of Combees. Still, I wanted to see what they were up to, even though my heart was pounding. I crept carefully through the forest, tip-toeing over the bark and weaving through any felled trees. Eventually I could see them again, watching their movements while I hid behind a tree. They weren't really doing anything you'd consider interesting, just lying in the sun and talking to one another. Even for our own kind, that was something we naturally did, except we couldn't get a tan. Poor us, I guess.

Anyway, I wanted to know more about what they were talking about, so I stood still, focusing solely on their voices. Even with the disquiet of the island, from that distance, it was impossible to listen in on their conversation. All I could hear were little slithers of sound too vague to string into words. Not like I could've understood what they were saying anyway. But Dad had spoken two words in their language and I understood them. I must've been able to learn to listen to it eventually.

So, it was my resolve to get closer to the couple, padding carefully through the shore so I wouldn't cause a scene. I didn't need Dad interfering again. Well, he might've saved my skin that one time, but I still wouldn't take no for an answer.

Something I didn't notice before was that, floating on the surface of the water, was something white and round with big pointed bits of canvas hanging up it. I didn't know what they were used for at the time, but I think it was like a boat or a dinghy or something. Feel free to correct me later if I'm completely wrong.

As I got closer, I could finally listen to what the two were talking about. Both of their voices were croaky and sounded much older than the previous human I encountered. I wanted to step closer, but I must've stepped too closer to them as the woman turned her head. I froze, not knowing what to expect. Then she screamed, took a few of the bags and ran as fast as she could to the further end of the shore. Part of me wanted to rush off after her and reassure her I wasn't about to maul her, but there was her partner I had to deal with next, giving me a severe look.

The smart thing to have done in that situation, I guess, was to run away and let the situation sort itself out. Crazy couple gets back together, leaves island, end of. But I never said I was smart. I waited it out to see how he would react. All he did was shout at me, throwing flecks of spit as he did so, and he ran off. I watched him, stunned. I didn't feel particularly guilty about it, mostly because I had no idea what the hell I did wrong. But it was the first time a human showed any sign of aggression, and I growled at the thought of it. If he came back, who knows, I might've bitten his leg, but he kept running after his girl who still screamed like a maniac, leaving me to my own devices.

My eyes wandered over to their belongings, which all looked new to me. It was some sort of basket on a blanket with two clear, bowl shaped objects. Of course, not knowing what purpose they had, I couldn't resist picking the shiny clear thing up. The moment I gripped it, it shattered in my paw, leaving shards of light to clatter onto the rocks. They were glasses all along. It's a wonder I didn't cut myself there.

Next, I started digging inside the basket. When I opened the lid, something warm-smelling wafted from its contents. It was food. I licked my lips and stuck my paw inside it, feeling around for the morsel, and when I touched it, I pulled out a half eaten sandwich. The bread had a spongy feel to it, filled with a yellowy sort of substance. I had to take a bit of it. I remembered the taste was quite strong, but in a different way from the fishy taste of the Magikarp we were used to having. Either way, it was delicious, and I practically inhaled the rest. It was disappointing to see there wasn't more of it, but then I noticed something else unusual. It was a larger glass bottle, except with actual liquid inside of it. Again, I laid my paws on it, except it was a bit heavier than I expected, almost dragging it across the floor. Probably the best since if it was any lighter, I probably would've smashed it. I caught a glimpse of that couple from far away and bolted for the forest with the bottle in tow.

After wandering for a little while, I picked up the aura of all three of my brothers and went to meet them. Trunks was the first to approach me.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, crossing his arms. "You know you shouldn't have gotten near those humans."

Trunks must've seen my aura to know that, but I shrugged that thought aside and presented the bottle to them.

"Never mind that," I said, "Look what I found!"

The rest huddled around me, observing the loot.

"Whattisit?" Twig asked.

"Well obviously, it's some sort of drink," I said.

"It could be dangerous!" Stumpy said, looking better from his dip in the drink.

"How so? Those humans were drinking it."

"Still, you shouldn't have taken it! What would dad say?"

"Well," I said, wringing my paw around the bottle of the neck, "Only one way to find out!"

Of course, not knowing how to open it, I struggled with the cap for a bit before a fizzing sound came out of it. It made the two youngest jump. I didn't even hesitate to drink from it, but when I took a swig from it, I immediately spat it back out.

I might as well tell you it was white wine, and you'll probably find it's not the last time alcohol comes up as a topic of discussion. But we might get to that at some point later.

Anyway, it tasted horrible. Even when I spat it back out, the sting of it lingered on my tongue. Now I really was starting to wonder whether or not it was poison.

To my surprise, Trunks snatched the bottle off of me and took a big swig out of it, scrunching up his face as he did.

"Tastes alright to me, don't know what you're spitting it out for." He gave me a big smile, the first time in a while I ever saw him do that. I stepped away from him. This wasn't his usual behaviour.

Stumpy looked expectantly at the bottle.

"Can I try?"

Trunks only clutched the bottle in his paws.

"Naw, it makes ya do weird things." By then, it started to affect his speech, but that didn't bother him as he took another swig. He laughed, hiccuping all the while.

"C'mon, whattare y'all looking scared fer? Just join da fun!"

I can't say I was scared by a lot, but even I backed away when he let go of the bottle and started dancing in place. It rolled on the ground, spilling some of its contents. Even Stumpy and Twig joined me, who both held onto my arm.

"What's happening? Is he okay?" Stumpy said. I just looked on at the scene as Trunks span around, cackling to no one in particular.

I never thought I'd say it, but thankfully, Dad intervened and stormed into the area, picking up the bottle.

"Who brought this?" he asked in a serious tone, Pipsqueak and runt both pointed at me, even though they were still cowering from behind.

"Hey!" I said, "That's not fair, you two!"

"Enough!" Dad shouted. Any time he shouted at you, you knew you were in for it. "You idiot, I told you not to go anywhere near them, and you disobeyed me just like that!"

I couldn't speak. Each time I tried to get words to come out to explain myself, I just croaked.

"Never mind, now we've got a bit more trouble on our paws, thanks to you." He held up the half empty bottle. "They'll come looking for this, you know, and they're nothing but trouble. All of you, go hide out with your mother. I'll sort this out myself."

"Hol' up!" Trunks said, stumbling into Dad. "Ish' no big deal, I shaw you do it a few timesh! Help yourself if you want!"

"That's enough, pup. Consider this your lesson."

"Wait!" Trunks glared at him. "Don't call me pup no more, I shaw what'sh out there, I'm big now, I can take care of theshe cubs!"

Dad only shook his head and walked off with the bottle in tow. I looked back at Trunks who struggled to stand still, then back to the other two who whimpered nearby a tree. I held my paw up, drawing their attention to me. "Mom's close, I can feel it. Follow me!"

Somehow, I got all three to take after me and I headed to where Mom's aura led me, to the base we usually camped out for her story sessions. She had her paws in some kind of box when I came in, and she looked at us all with her maw hanging open.

"What's happening now?" she said. Trunks didn't waste any time before he showed off his drunken self. He attempted to do a cartwheel over to her but ended up falling on his ass. Mom instantly went up to him, lifting him up.

"Are you alright?"

"Yesh, yesh I'm fine, mama! I drank a bit of that shtuff Dad used to drink."

She held a paw up to her mouth and her eyes grew wide. While this was happening, not knowing what Trunks was going through, my heart sank. It was rare for me to worry about him as he usually carried himself fine, if not a bit quiet, but seeing him like that, I wasn't sure what was to come. I ran up to her, feeling misty-eyed.

"Oh no, is he gonna die? Please tell me he's alright. Mom? Mom?"

Out of nowhere, Mom started laughing and pulled me up close to her.

"I know what's going on. He's drunk, that's all!"

"Drunk?" I asked, wiping the dust from my eyes.

"Well, it's a bit hard to explain if you weren't with me, but it's what happens when you drink too much of what they call alcohol: your mind gets all fuzzy. It's usually quite toxic to a lot of Pokémon, but we can take it just fine. How much did he drink?"

"I dunno, two mouthfuls?"

Her smile faded, but otherwise, she was still calm about the situation.

"I see. He won't be used to that much right now, but otherwise, he'll be fine. He'll just have to get it out of his system, that's all."

"What's that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

We waited as we all crowded around the two, staying close to Trunks in particular. He held his paw to his stomach and started to groan, then laid down on the grassy floor, curling up.

"I don't feel sho hot."

"Alright, alright," Mom repeated, rubbing his head as he laid down. He looked up to me and smiled weakly.

"Shorry 'bout all thish. I know I'm annoying shometimesh, barking at you all the time not to do shtuff. You musht think I'm boring."

I never heard him speak as honestly as he did. I know this wasn't his usual self, but judging by his aura's emotions, I know it was his true self. I shook my head.

"No, bro. You're great. I know you're just looking out for me, like you do everyone else."

"Thanksh." He fumbled around for a bit before planting his paws on the ground, sitting up. He looked down at his feet.

"I hate thish. Shtaying here all day, all night, nowhere to go. Shorry Mom, I'm grateful for everything we did to come here, but I can't shtand much longer here."

Mom held onto him, hugging him tighter.

"No need to apologise, you're not the only one that thinks that here. Don't you prefer it to having to survive out there, though?"

"Yesh." He paused, then tugged at the appendages at the back of his head. "No. Shure, it'sh miserable. Shure, we losht a lot of friendsh. But we went into the citiesh ash well. We had sho much fun there. People liked ush as well. What happened to that. Wheresh that in the wild, or on thish rock?"

Mom didn't respond, but only smiled, rubbing him reassuringly. Trunks, in his hazy state, pointed to me.

"Thish island'sh not big enough for you, shish. There'sh sho much out there you're misshing. No Pokémon deshervesh this. I-." He held his head and knelt on the floor far away from us.

"Oh crap." He started blowing chunks as Mom nursed him from behind. I looked on, thinking about everything Trunks had said. Even he had my back in this, as hard as it was to make out what he said half the time. My other brothers crept up to me, asking me what he was talking about. I said I didn't know and kept my eyes on getting out of the island as soon as this was over.

Trunks had calmed down a bit since then and dozed off beside Mom, although his breaths were raspy from all the fluid he hacked up. Even if it wasn't severe, there was still a pang of guilt in my gut. She turned to Stumpy.

"Please get your eldest some water from the lake, and fetch a bucket out of the box. Make sure to take your youngest with you, alright?"

Stumpy nodded. I'm sure he was just relieved to get out of this situation. He got the wooden object out, which was a round shaped thing with a hole in the middle, and went off with the bucket in one paw and Twig's own paw in the other. I turned back to Mom who smiled at me.

"So you stole the bottle off those humans, huh?"

I gasped. "How did you-"

"Your thoughts don't lie, dear."

"Am I in trouble?"

She shook her head. "Oh dear, it's no big deal. It's only natural for you to be curious, after all."

"But I went close to those humans after you told me not to. Everyone else chewed me out for it, so yeah."

"Well like I said, it's complicated. It's mostly your father who wants nothing to do with them, so I will respect that, but I will say, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have the sort of stuff we do right now. Why do you think we cook our meals instead of eating them raw?"

"Because it's better?"

"Exactly. Plus, that tarp and tire swing didn't come from nowhere, we brought it here with us. You see what I mean?"

I shook my head.

"Pokémon don't usually come up with this stuff, you see. As much as your father hates them, we rely on them for these nice things. If only he didn't act like such a stubborn old woman sometimes..."

She stopped to point at the box she was toying around with earlier.

"That things full of human possessions. You wanna see?"

I left the two alone and walked to the wooden box, which had a pawprint marked on the side. I lifted the lid and indeed, saw lots of human oddments there. I pawed through each item. If I remember correctly, it had stuff like bits of paper, various shiny tools and other loose bits of soft and sharp things. I must've pricked my paw on one of those objects since I drew it out of the box only to find out I cut it. I sucked at the wound and continued to look inside, and what drew my attention the most was a notepad. I picked it out of the box out of all the items there and shook it around a little as sheets of paper waved in the air. I closed it and brought it to her as she smiled.

"You can draw on that, dear."

"Draw?" I said, cocking my head. "Like with the stones on the rocks?"

"Exactly, though you'd tear through the paper if you did it with those. You can use lots of other things to draw on it as well. We actually have crayons if you want to use them, you'll find them in the smaller box, dear."

She held it for me as I got the crayons out, and I looked at them for a bit. They had all sorts of colours there I had never even seen before, like purple, would you believe I never saw purple before? All of them were so bright and kind of appetizing. Without thinking, I placed one in my mouth before spitting it back out.

"They're made of wax dear, that's not edible. We don't need another sick Pokémon tonight."

Again, I never said I was a smart kid. Still, you see something like that and you just want to eat it even though you probably shouldn't. Oh well. I think natural selection will take care of that one eventually.

Anyway, I took out more of the other colours I liked and placed them next to the pad. I didn't know what to do next. Seeing I was lost in thought, Mom showed me what to do by taking one of the crayons and making a squiggly blue line with it on the paper. It wasn't much, but to my young eyes, it was impressive. I snatched the crayon out of her paw and drew whatever came to mind: a scribbly blue sky that filled the entire page. Clearly my first masterpiece. Even though it wasn't much, Mom smiled at my work.

"That's impressive dear!"

"Thank you!" I knew she was just being sincere, but it was nice. Then she put everything back and handed it over to me.

"I was saving this for later, for when you were older, but really, you should have something else to do on this island. It's sad seeing you wandering around all day." She let it go in my paws and I must've looked at her as if I saw Arceus' face on a piece of tree bark.

"Can I keep it?"

"It's all yours."

I jumped over to her, dropping everything I had in my paws to hug her. It was a much needed bright spot in the endless stretch of days that went nowhere. She returned it, squeezing me tight, and I went making random scribbles as I stayed with her until my other brothers came with their water. The rest of the night passed with ease as I watched my brother come to his senses, albeit groggily. After dinner, he had restored some of his energy, but after that, we decided not to have any stories for tonight and settled down.

I slept clutching my new present like a pillow. It was the first thing I had to call my own, really.

The next day, Trunks woke up with a groan, and felt physically exhausted all day, so we had to do most of the work for him. When asked about last night's incident, he distanced himself from the subject. Strangely enough, when I saw Dad next, his breath smelled of the same stuff Trunks drank. Take from that what you will.


	12. That Sinking Feeling

Soon enough, I went off making my own map with the paper Mom gave me. I went through the island once more, gathering references for each point I had to make, but at first, I had trouble visualising it. It occurred to me when I started on the shore and looked at the trees in front of me. Making a record of every single patch of land there, one bit at a time, would've taken me forever. So I wandered around, which is sounding a bit redundant at this point because that's usually ALL I ever did, not knowing what to do for a while, until I saw another bird Pokémon whiz through the air past the trees. Then I had an idea. A dangerous thought.

I climbed up one of the trees, making sure not to drop my things on the way and sat on top of a branch. It was a pretty lucky spot since it was one of the highest trees up there, giving me a good look of half of the island. I got a crayon out and put the tip of it on the paper, and stopped. I had another problem. The view was nice, but then I wondered how I was supposed to get it all on a flat surface. I stared at the view for a while until I thought of something else. If I was putting it on something flat, I had to think as if the whole island was flat as well. I saw myself as one of those other bird Pokémon, flying up there, being able to see everything without a care. I swear I didn't rhyme on purpose.

So I got to work and started drawing the edge of the shore from one half to the other across the page with a squiggly line. Then I drew another line inside it for all the other trees and coloured in the rest of that half. I left the other side blank. The rest of the island was all the same though, so I turned myself around and filled the rest in the same way. There. Not bad for a Riolu that almost ate a crayon that one time.

I climbed off, and then, it was time for the fun part. Well, less fun and more tedious. I had to see which island was the closest, so that meant going across the shore again just so I could record it all. But I needed somewhere to come back to as well. Once I got off, I got a red crayon and marked where I was. Of course, I couldn't tell which direction was which at the time, but let's say I was on the southern part of it. As for remembering which part of the island I was on without a map, well, I marked my territory. Don't blame me, I was a creature of habit, after all.

I walked through and started marking any island I saw with another crayon. I flexed my paws to measure it as I explained before, and moved onto the next one. I must've been halfway done, occupied in my own little world before, who else, Stumpy came out of the forest and threw me off whack.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"Drawin' this place." I pulled the page out and showed him the progress I made. He looked just as listless as ever.

"That looks nothing like here."

"Well duh, I'm drawing it as if it was flat, that's what I decided to do."

"You're not up to something again, are you?"

"Of course not." I didn't want to outright shoo him away, but I didn't want him following me around here. Not sure what to do, I just walked for a while. I guess he must've gotten bored since he disappeared into the trees and I was left to my own devices again.

So a while later, I came back with all my findings to the spot I marked, still smelling fresh, and I saw the sun had sunken from the sky a little. It must've been approaching evening, I think. My stomach rumbled. I figured it was time to get back for dinner.

I didn't need to mention what I ate. Hell, I think at that point, I ate so much fish I was ready to grow gills soon. Afterwards, Trunks and Stumpy crowded around me to look at my findings. I figured it would shut Stumpy up if I went through it with him, so I told him what I did.

"Still doesn't look like an island to me," he said. I just blew a Razzberry at him.

"Well," Trunks said, gently lifting the pad. He traced his paw over the paper. "It's impressive you managed to do this. I actually saw maps back at the..." He trailed off, looking at Stumpy. I guess he remembered he wasn't supposed to tell anyone else. "You know what."

"What do you mean by that?" Stumpy asked, never afraid to ask the bleeding obvious.

"Never mind," Trunks replied, "Still, keep going at it."

He handed back the pad and I smiled at him. He smiled back.

"What else have you drawn?" he said.

My maw hung open as I stared back at the pad. I had built up quite the gallery since then, but I didn't think to show it to anyone else. It was my secret. Well, not so secret considering I had nowhere else to hide it, but my family hadn't really asked what I did inside it. Trunks was different though. I flicked through the pages and showed him each drawing I made. I don't remember a whole lot of it aside from drawing some of the scenery such as the rocks or trees I passed by. None of it was particularly good, even for a Pokémon. It probably would've had more worth being used as toilet paper.

Still, Trunks gave me a pat on the back and told me they were all good. Now, lil' me couldn't really tell the difference between a master's painting and a messy clash of colours, but I knew from his aura that he was being as genuine as Mom acted when she first saw my work. Then, what he suggested next took me off guard.

"Do you think you could draw me?"

And so the stage was set. Me and Trunks went to our usual hangout spot by the lake, and he sat down in a cross-legged pose by the bank while I sat away from him, crayon in paw. He was as stiff as a log, the perfect subject. I looked at him and paused. There was going to be a little bit of trouble getting him on a flat surface. Maps were easier to draw as it was abstract, but since I had to draw a living, breathing thing, I had the same problem as I did before translating it onto paper.

Out of impulse, I held the crayon in front of him, measuring him with the wax stick, and marked two spots on the paper where I would start with the ears and end with his bottom. I squinted my eyes, trying to make sense of his form, and drew three circles on the paper: one for the head, one for the body, and one for the bottom. Then I drew a few lines connecting each of them together. When I put it like that, it sounded like I knew what I was doing, but trust me, I didn't.

You know when you start out, you draw what you think you see instead of what you actually see? It's kind of like that. I don't remember who said that, but anyway, when it came to the limbs, they looked broken, and when I came to the face, Trunks looked like he was missing a few chromosomes. I compared my drawing to the actual thing in front of me and frowned.

"Are you done?" he said. I nodded, and he came over to peek at my masterpiece.

"That doesn't look half bad."

"Really?" I said, pointing to all the mistakes I made, "I made you look kinda goofy."

"Well, er," I looked to Trunks, who gave me a nervous smile. I could tell he was trying to avoid criticising my work.

"I know it looks pretty bad, bro. You don't hafta lie to me."

He gave a relieved sigh and patted me on the back.

"Okay, you're right, it could use some work, but it's better than anything I could've done. I could barely draw a stick figure."

I cocked my head at him, trying to figure out what he was talking about, but just shrugged it off.

"If you keep at it," he said, "I'm sure you can make something good."

"You think so?"

"It all comes with practice. Think of it like training your aura." Trunks stood on the balls of his feet and made a battle stance. "You exercise your body like you'd exercise your mind when drawing, and when it comes to using it, you channel the world's energy inside you like the references you've collected, like so." He clapped his paws together and closed his eyes, casting a blue glow onto the ground. "Then, once you feel like you've gathered enough energy, or enough of an understanding of what you're looking at..."

At last, he presented an aura sphere and shot it at the tree, creating a blast that shook the branches, leaves dancing in the air.

"Of course, mine was only the size of a pebble when I started out, so like I said, it all comes with practice. You understand?"

I set the pad to the side and nodded. Actually, a lot of it flew over my head, as I couldn't understand what he was trying to relate to. The fundamentals of art are much different than shooting magic spheres out of your hands like some sort of wizard. But I felt the sentiment anyway, so I went close to him and hugged his leg.

You could say Trunks inspired me since after that, I went on my own to draw again, just doing random scribbles that didn't mean anything. My memories drifted off to the speech Trunks gave me, to the time Mom gave me that pad in the first place, to that night when I pilfered that wine off those humans. It had been a while since I saw one of them, so I got the idea to draw one completely by memory.

I opened a new page and started drawing. I remembered they had tiny heads, and clothes, and hair, and all sorts of stuff, but without a visual reference, in the end, it looked more like the aliens Mom talked about in her poem than anything resembling an actual human. I was completely on my own until Dad appeared from behind the trees. When I saw that hardened, permanently-frowning face, I hurried to close the pad.

"Hello pup," he said as he approached, "What are you up to this time?"

With anyone else, I probably would've shown them without hesitation as they would've been respectful about it. With Dad however, it always felt like he was invading your privacy, like he was actively seeking out a reason to scold you.

"Nothing," I said.

His face turned more sour. "You must never lie to a Lucario. Now show me what you've been doing."

He played that card whenever we hid something from him. I'd find out later that it's a common saying in the mainland, and a rule even you humans should follow if you don't want a spike shoved up your rear end. Nevertheless, I clutched the pad closer to me, not wanting him to look. At that point, Dad was growling with fury, grabbing me with those large paws of his while I struggled in his grasp.

"Let me go!"

"I'm having none of that, thank you." At last, he snatched the pad off me and started going through it, page by page. He said nothing, ignoring my attempts to snatch it back, then suddenly, his eyes dilated at one of my drawings. He turned the pad over, presenting the drawing I did before he came in.

"Pup, what is this?"

"Um..." I stared at the page, figuring out what to say next. "It's a human. It doesn't look anythin' like it, I kinda messed up the body. I—"

RRR-IP! I stopped when Dad tore the page out the pad and crumpled it up in his paws. He casually tossed it away behind him.

"No more of this. I'm taking this damn thing away for now, understood?"

It felt like my heart itself had ripped into two. At that moment, I pounced on him, shouting at him to give it back. He picked me up. I kept kicking. Then, he tossed me to the ground, head first. I crawled away from him. It was probably because of the shock of being thrown to the floor, but I started bawling. He approached me with that murderous look in his eye again. Clearly, I had already ticked him off and there was no way out. So I ran to the shore, wailing into the air.

So yeah, that went well. Wah-wah. Looking back on it, the whole thing was stupid from both sides. He never needed to go that far with confiscating my stuff. Then again, I didn't need to react the way I did either, as there were worse things I could've cried over than a crumpled up drawing. But again, I wasn't a smart kid, and kids are generally stupid and emotional. Still, that's something you shouldn't do to a kid, punish them when they haven't done anything wrong because of your own personal issues. Or chuck them around like a football.

Look at me, giving parental advice. Is this what I've come to these days?

But yeah, I ended up running to the shore where I sulked in my own self-pity. Dad had taken away the one thing I owned, so I had nothing to express myself with, no map to find my way out of the island, nothing. I looked to the shore where another island sat further away. Even through my misty eyes, I could've sworn that island was the one I marked as the closest on the map. It could've been the second closest, but I didn't care. I stood up anyway.

It was decided. With nowhere else to run to, I decided to swim.

It probably wouldn't have been the last time I saw them as I was sure if I could make it across there, I could've gotten back, after all. Still, I put a paw on my chest, feeling each beat and waiting for the right time to leave. Once it slowed down, I took the first dive.

I had learned to swim, but only a certain distance from the island for our parents to get us if need be. I knew I could endure swimming for a fair distance, I mean, what can I say? I was a bored kid. If circumstances were different and I didn't have this damn arm with me, I'm sure I could swim even longer now.

I kept a steady pace, going slow enough to keep my breathing in check while fast enough to see some progress. Eventually, I could see the views of some of the other islands further away, and even a few Pokémon travelling through the sea. I knew I wasn't completely isolated then as many other Pokémon were travelling the same way I was. I was getting closer and closer to the other island in front of me, I could feel it.

Something started nipping my paws. I didn't stop to check out what it was as it felt like a little nibble at first, then it almost pulled me underwater. I stopped, kicking whatever clutched onto my leg off my feet and continued my venture forward. Then it dragged me into the sea.

Around my feet, through the eye burning sea water, I saw a school of Magikarp swarm around my legs, sucking my skin and swishing their tails in the water to pull me further downward. I couldn't even hold my breath, that was how much it took me by surprise. I needed to get back to the surface. I punched at them in an attempt to get them off, and it succeeded as I socked one Magikarp in the face and a few dispersed, although some still stuck onto my legs. That gave me leeway enough to rise above, and I gasped for air. I knew at that point I was screwed. In my panic, I started screaming for help, splashing out to make a scene while I could still swim. I didn't know how it would help as I couldn't see anyone or anything around me that could ward them away.

Then I felt even more mouths pulling me downward, and the only thing I could've done to save a bit of time was to hold my breath. I was dragged in again. It was more than a school that dragged me down, more like a university, if that's even an expression you humans use. I struggled to keep myself moving as they dragged me deeper underwater. I couldn't hold my breath for much longer. Slowly, I opened my mouth, and eventually my thoughts drifted away as I slept with the fishes.

You know, I managed to get my paws on a book in GeL once I learned how to read. Apparently, it takes a minute and a half for a small Pokémon, particularly a Riolu like me to drown. Even if you survive by some miracle, you're lucky if brain damage doesn't set in around that time. When I look back at all the close calls I've had in my life, sometimes, I think about that random fact and that feeling still hasn't left me whenever I remember the time I almost drowned there. With no one around to help in the middle of nowhere, I was sure I was dead. Maybe I did die and I could've been a ghost this whole time. Plot twist.

No, not funny? Alright then, I'll continue.

Next thing I knew, I wasn't entirely awake, but something clamped down at my chest and I felt bitter water rising up my throat. It kept punching at that area, although I couldn't piece together why until I coughed up a stream of water. Suddenly, I could breathe again. Air, sweet air! It took a while for me to find my bearings as I was still catching my breath, but once I came to, I opened my eyes and saw two figures in front of me. It was an Azumarill, although I didn't know it yet, and a human. The Azumarill came up to me first and held my paw.

"Are you alright?" he said.

I wasn't too sure about what was going on, although I could speak.

"Yeah, thanks."

He just nodded and just repeated what I said in the human tongue. Okay, that was an odd situation to say at the least. Since I wanted to know what was happening, I let the situation play itself until I understood where I was. The human talked back to him, although I could only understand a couple of words, and the Azumarill nodded.

"He says you're breathing fine anyway. Do you need a paw?"

"Please," I said. He helped me up to my feet and I got a better understanding of my surroundings: a boat like the one I saw with that odd human couple, except bigger and without sails. We were sat in between the two islands. The next thing I noticed was that my teeth were chattering. A gust of wind blew through me and I tried to cuddle myself in an attempt to feel warm. The Azumarill took wind of this and gathered a few towels for me to wrap myself in. It helped a little, although I was still dripping wet. He turned to his trainer next.

 _"Do you have any cocoa for her?"_ he said in human tongue, to which, his partner nodded.

"Cocoa?" I said, confused.

"Yeah, it's a hot drink. It'll help you keep warm, you'll see."

I nodded and watched the human prepare something from some sort of flask. In that moment, the Azumarill sat next to me and wrapped his paw around me.

"Are you lost?" he said. I shook my head and pointed back to home.

"That's where I live, over there." Then it dawned on me. "Aw, crud. They're probably really worried about me."

"Don't fret, we'll get you back safely. I did wonder what a Riolu was doing in the middle of the ocean." He relayed the information back to his trainer. That's when I prodded him in his side, getting his attention back.

"How are you doing all of this? Mama said it's usually the trainers that order their Pokémon to do stuff, not the other way around."

He just smiled and flicked one of his ears back.

"I've been learning to speak the human tongue for years."

"Can you really do that though? I know papa could speak a few words, but I didn't know you could speak that well through it."

"Why of course. It's a skill you can learn like any other."

"Then how come I can't understand half of what he says?"

"It's a little complicated, but it takes some getting used to if you haven't lived around them."

I just mumbled in reply. He looked to the far-away island.

"It looks like a nice place."

"Well, kinda. It's pretty boring, to be honest. That's kinda why I swam away, ya know, to see if I could get to the mainland. Plus Papa was kind of a jerk."

"How so?"

"Well, he crumpled up my drawing just because it had a human on it."

"You draw?"

"Yeah. I suck at it though."

"Well, no one starts off like a Smeargle."

I didn't know what that meant, although I gathered it was supposed to be a compliment. I just nodded back. It wasn't long after that the human knelt in front of me and offered me a cup of that cocoa. It was weird for me to look at as it wasn't like anything I had seen before: brown with a bit of white at the top, but I guessed it was safe to drink. The human smiled at me.

 _"Drink,"_ he said, making a gulping motion with his hands. That I could understand. I nodded and cupped the flask with my paws. It was warm like sunshine in a bottle.

 _"Hot,"_ he also said. Knowing dumb lil' me, I probably would've chugged it if he hadn't told me. So I carefully held it to my lips, trying not to drop it as I took a sip. It was unlike anything I tasted before: smooth and sweet. Warmth coursed through my body and I felt up to speed again.

"Thanks a bunch," I said.

"You like it?" The Azumarill said.

"Do I ever!"

From there, he asked me a bit more about my predicament and I talked about wanting to escape the island and find out what the humans were up to, in between sips of that cocoa, of course. Again, Azumarill went back and forth with his trainer, before he said this:

"We're actually looking for Pokémon like you. We want to help you learn about these things, like human speech, everything you'd like to know about the world, the whole hog. All you'd need to do is come with us."

"I..." I was itching to say yes. It was my chance to venture the world like I had planned for months, to hang around the humans and see what my brother had seen, but then it struck me. If I took that offer right then and there, then what? It seemed too easy, as if the two had appeared out of thin air to take me out on a silver carriage, or boat as it were. Plus, there was still my family. My father could've gotten stuffed if he didn't agree with me, but what would the rest say? Would it mean not seeing them again? I gulped the last of the drink down, which had turned lukewarm. Azumarill must've seen the hesitation in my face as he frowned.

"I understand, it's a hefty deal to take on. Well, think on it if you want. We can come back tomorrow to talk about it more."

"Hold on, how will you know where I am when every island looks the same?"

"We have our ways," he said with a grin. "Now," he turned back to his trainer, repeating what I said. "Let's take you home."

The human took control of the wheel at the helm of the boat and the engine whirred, making me jump a little and drop my empty cup.

"No need to fret," Azumarill said, "That's just what powers this boat you're standing on."

I just nodded, feeling myself flush red.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, "How rude of me! Ahem." He stood in the middle, ears proudly sticking up in the air. "I'm an Azumarill, but you may call me Azzy, and here's my partner, Mackenzie!"

Mackenzie, the human, just waved his hand in the air as he steered the boat. Again, names were an odd thing for us Pokémon. Hearing the Azumarill repeat his own name got me thinking about what I would call myself. Nothing came to mind. I couldn't think of anything that would fit me as I was just Riolu. That was what I always was.


	13. The Reason We're Here, I Guess

As they drove back to the island, I could see my family waiting with bated breath for me. My father was the first person I saw as he was aggressive towards the pair that saved me. When Azzy explained himself, he only nodded and thanked them before telling them to leave. I waved back at them as they set sail, and immediately got chewed out by Dad for almost drowning. I was to stay away from the shore for an indefinite period of time. He didn't mention the drawing again, we just swept it under the rug and left it at that.

Of course, being grounded in everything but name only didn't stop me as I had plans later on. You could never keep me in one place for too long after all. Thoughts of the duo stayed with me all day, and over a quiet dinner, I could think about nothing but escaping.

I had a definite chance that time. I was given the opportunity to eat something else other than fish all day, everyday, to do something else other than lounge about all day, everyday, and possibly meet new people rather than being stuck with my family, all day, everyday. Even without that, the chance to learn the human tongue enticed me. I thought back to my previous encounters and how nice it would've been to speak for myself. Maybe things could've been different with that Prinplup encounter had I explained myself to its trainer and mediated between them and Dad. Maybe I could've understood why that crazy couple was so scared of me. All of that would've sold me on paper.

In actuality, though, a weight clamped down on my chest. And no, it wasn't due to almost drowning. Rather, it was the prospect of never seeing my family again if it meant going away. Going somewhere to learn human matters sounded important and probably far away. I didn't have anything against the rest of my siblings or Dad, but I could've done without them. Trunks and Mom, though, were the only ones that showed me proper support. If I didn't have them around, I wouldn't know who else to turn to.

I carried those thoughts with me even past dinner and throughout storytime, and as I tried to go to sleep, I kept tossing and turning in my patch of grass.

Trunks must've taken the hint that something was up since he patted my side, waking me up out of my half-sleep.

"Do you want to talk about this in our usual spot?"

The lake it was, again. At that time, everything was pitch black. We tiptoed through the forestry, listening for the different sounds in the terrain to guide us there. I must've taken one step forward too many as Trunks held me back from falling in the drink. We sat by the bank as I coursed my paw through the surface of the water.

"You're thinking about escaping again, and it has something to do with the couple that brought you back," Trunks said.

"Nothing gets past you," I said.

"You're set to meet them again tomorrow, is that it?"

"Yeah, and?"

"And, I want to come with you."

"Off the island?"

"No, just with them. I want to see what they have planned for you. Don't you think it sounds a little suspicious?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. Well, they did save me, after all."

"True. But, let's say you did get off the island with them and they kept their promise about teaching you whatever it is that needed teaching. You might not have the chance to see us again."

"I know. I dunno what'll happen a while from now, bro. They didn't tell me a lot about what this whole thing was about."

"Well, like I said, we'll find out tomorrow. Maybe we should rest on it for now, okay?"

He put his paw around me and I returned the favour, nuzzling his coat.

"Thanks, bro."

I was able to sleep easily that night and the next day, Trunks managed to get me to the shore with Dad's permission, under the ruse that he would be watching me at all times. We went to the spot we were dropped off at and waited. Trunks came and handed me back the notebook with all the crayons in one place. I didn't question how he got it; I just clutched them as it still felt precious to me.

"Mom gave him a bit of a telling off," Trunks said, "Don't you worry. She wasn't having any of what he did."

I just muttered a reply.

"Talking about them, I'm starting to get a little worried." He started rubbing his paws together. "They're a bit more snappy with each other and I haven't seen them together for a while since. My aura tells me they don't hang out together that much at night anymore."

"Don't they?"

"Nnn-mmm. Still, we'll see."

I didn't really know how to take that. I just waited with him, paw in paw, until they came for the second time, Azzy and Mackenzie together. Azzy was the first to step off the boat as he approached us.

"Hello," he said, waving to me, "You hungry?"

I wasn't really, but since they brought that cocoa last, I was up for anything they could offer, so I nodded. He turned to Trunks next.

"And you must be her father?"

"Brother," he said, crossing his arms.

"Ah, sorry. Are you coming with us then?"

"Yes, but let me just say this. If you and that human are up to anything that might harm the both of us, or are up to no good, I'll show no mercy. I'll know in an instant."

Azzy just nodded. "If we were up to anything like that, you would've known by now, I can assure you. But anyway hop on board!"

He led the way to the deck as we stepped off the shore, and Mackenzie powered the engine again and set sail through the sea. I was close by the railing, watching the world around us go by as Trunks did too, as our home grew more distant.

"Where are you taking us?" Trunks asked, leering at Azzy.

"Not far. We'll be stopping once Mack finds a good spot for us to stay. Now..." Azzy dove into one of the compartments at the bottom and drew out a bag, which he opened to reveal lots of different kinds of food. Well, maybe not lots, but lots considering what I usually ate before then. There were sandwiches, rice cakes, different types of berries, Pokepuffs, poffins, wrapped candy, you name it. Maybe more. You could've probably fed a Snorlax with that much food. I was drooling, being that starved for variety.

"Would you like to dig in?"

"Woah," I said, pointing at every item on display, "Is this all for us?"

"But of course, there's plenty to go around."

It didn't take long for me to start stuffing my face with sandwiches. It tasted a bit different to the one I had before, except it was a bit meatier. Still, I enjoyed it, and I turned to Trunks and waved a bit of bread at him.

"Haff some, ith goof." I said.

"I'll pass," he replied, waving a paw dismissively. I shrugged and continued on my sandwich binge. Azzy joined in as well, helping himself to a riceball.

"I take it you like those then?" he said.

"Love 'em," I said, "Much better than the stinking fish we usually have."

"Oh please," Trunks said, "It's hardly stinking at all." I glanced at him for a second and saw him wide eyed, hungrily staring down the feast before us. I knew from his aura that he had longing in his heart for it. It was just waiting for the right moment to join in.

"Whatever," I said, wolfing down another sandwich, "Where do you find thith thtuff?"

"Oh, they're easy to make. Sometimes, you don't even need to make it yourself."

I swallowed. "They can do that?"

Azzy nodded. I noticed the innards of his food, which had some sort of pink stuff in it.

"You can try some of this as well."

"Will do!" I grabbed one of the riceballs and squeezed it with my paw. It was made up of many grains, yet they were stuck together, and felt sturdy enough to toss around. I laid my sandwich pile close by and started sampling the new food item. It didn't have much of a taste, a bit salty maybe, but it filled me up.

"Is there anything you'd like, mister Lucario? We have chocolate."

Snap. Like a fire had just lit up in his head, Trunks stopped looking his glum self and licked his lips.

"Where?"

"Right here." Azzy retrieved a bar and gave it to Trunks. The instant he got his paws on it, he tore through the wrapper and bit off a huge chunk for himself. He looked the happiest since I got him drunk off his ass earlier on. Naturally, I asked for some too. He shook himself out of his choco-coma and broke off a piece for me to try. Need I say more about what I thought of it?

Oh, and if you're wondering, a way to a Lucario's heart is through chocolate. It works for both men and us ladies.

The boat must've stopped since Mackenzie sat down with us, no longer on the helm. He got himself a sandwich and told Azzy something, although I couldn't hear what. Trunks had gotten back on his guard, albeit with chocolate melting in his paw.

"So, mister Lucario," Azzy said, "We're a part of an organisation called Gestalt Learning, and we'd like to offer this Riolu here a special opportunity if you would allow it."

"Depends," Trunks said.

"We would like her to come with us, to a place where she can learn the same things humans get to learn and more. Not only will she get to learn the human tongue, she will also learn many other things about this world and be prepared for whatever trials come her way once she graduates."

"Meaning?"

Azzy looked down at the notebook I put beside me.

"She could learn to draw, for instance, and have her work put out for all to see."

Trunks shook his head. "As much as I'd like her to improve her craft, I'm not letting her come with you just for that, not on Dad's life."

I stood up and held a paw up to him.

"Hey," I said, "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Not if that's all there is, it's a waste of time."

"Not only that," Azzy continued, "But she would also be skilled at battle and given the ability to defend herself when she leaves. Or if she ever wants to come with a trainer after she's finished."

"No," Trunks said, giving them the familiar red-eyed stare, clenching his fists, "Out of the question. We didn't get away from those bastards just so we could have one take her."

Azzy nodded, "Understandable. That's just one of our goals, but there are many other paths she could choose from. She would not only learn the human tongue, she would also learn maths, know about the history of this world, and much more. This means she could go on to teach other Pokémon like us the same set of skills. She could even live in the city by herself if she wanted to."

Trunks just laughed. It was always worrying when someone as straight-laced as him laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous. You think every Pokémon could just waltz into the city and just live like every other human, living in some cushy house with a boring job? Tell me, I'd love to hear a few examples, I'm all ears."

"Of course," Azzy said with a smile, "There's an Infernape named Emma who teaches at one of the top trainer schools in Jubilife City who is able to live by herself. The teacher's union managed to approve her move-in with the help of her trainer, and she's able to rent an apartment with her pay."

I didn't really know what they were talking about so I tuned out and looked to my brother, whose mouth went agape. He held a paw to his face, deep in thought.

"That sounds too good to be true. Surely that can't be the case, not while many other Pokémon are either in the wild or stuck with their trainers."

Azzy frowned. "Sadly, that is still a problem. But her case is one out of hundreds around the world. The news tells us what we need to know about these kinds of Pokémon, and that only shows it can be done on a wider scale if we put the effort in." Azzy stood up, ears proudly twitching in the air. "Think of what we could do if we were all given this chance. Wouldn't you want her to have the same opportunity?"

Trunks looked over to me, and then stared at his feet.

"Of course. But what does this mean for her? Where would she even go?"

"She would stay with us in a building made for her and other Pokémon to thrive. She would live peacefully among them while she studies, and be given whatever help she needs to progress. She would have tutors like me to give her advice and to bridge the gap between her and the humans. We would be with her every step of the way."

"For how long? Would we ever see her again?"

"Possibly. Keep in mind this is meant to be secret, something we can't tell a lot of humans. We can't give our location away, but we can track yours and give you updates on how she's doing, and this would go on for five years until she's ready to graduate."

"That's," he said, then hesitated. "That's a long time."

Trunks buried his head in his paws. I inched closer to him and embraced him, as I felt a whirlwind of emotions from his aura, all fighting for attention. Azzy came closer to him too, and held his paw out to him.

"I know this isn't easy for you, as her brother. But if you want to give this bright, young Pokémon the chance to succeed, I need your trust and confidence. What do you say?"

He was silent for a moment. Being young and not in the loop on things, I couldn't add to anything, only observing everything else that went on without my say. He clenched his fists again, this time tugging at his head, if only for a short moment. Eventually, Trunks snapped out of it and gazed back at the Azumarill.

"There's one more thing I need to know before I make up my mind. If we say no, what's stopping you from taking her by force, or any other Pokémon that gets involved with you two?"

Azzy smiled. "You're right to be sceptical. If we wanted to kidnap our subjects, we would've done so by now, but doing that would go against our mission. If you say no, we'll just take you back and move on to asking another Pokémon. What's the point of making Pokémon participate in a program like this if they're not going to happy being in it in the first place?"

Trunks laid back and hummed to himself.

"Alright, I trust you, but I need my own family's trust as well. When can you come back?"

"How about this night, at the same spot when it approaches sundown?"

Trunks gave a rare smile and returned Azzy's long awaited paw-shake.

"That sounds great."

The boat started purring again and we were on our way back to the island, eating as we pleased as well as downing the leftovers with water. Nothing better on a sunny day, if you ask me. Me and Trunks didn't talk much about what happened, just staring homeward as we slowly approached it, but I knew a lot went through my head at the time even if I didn't understand half of what Azzy talked about. All of it sounded far out of reach, nothing I knew like that even existed, or what sort of system Azzy proposed would entail. From my brother's reaction, I guess it scored well with him so I didn't worry about it too much. All I was looking forward to was to fly away from the nest.

We stopped at the shore and waved to the duo as they left for the second time. It was just us alone again. I reached up to Trunk's back, trying to get his attention. He picked me up with those big paws of his and put me on his shoulders, carrying me as we went back into the forest. It was a while since he carried me. It was nice. That's what I kind of miss about being small, so someone else could give me rides like that, but oh well.

Anyway, we crossed a stream together, getting his paws wet, and walked through the familiar area of endless woodland. The longing to get out still lingered, but I still didn't know what Trunks' thoughts on it were, exactly.

"Bro," I said, "What do you think I should do?"

He sighed, but didn't reply. I decided to read his aura up close, and detected a mixture of emotions in the air. Excitement. Fear. Longing. Those made sense if it turned out I would be going. But then I read jealousy and anger. That was something I hadn't anticipated, so I nudged his back a little.

"What?" he said.

I didn't quite know how to phrase it, so I just let my gut decide what to say. "Are you mad at me?"

His paws quickened their pace, crunching the twigs underneath. "Let's not talk about this now, shall we?"

"No, please. You don't hafta hide it from me. I can read thoughts to, ya know. What's that Dad said, never lie to a Lucario, or, erm, maybe a Riolu?"

He stopped suddenly, knocking me back a little bit, and let me down. Then, he knelt down to face me, his red eyes moist. I froze in place. The water flowed through the rocks in the background.

"No, I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry if I made you feel that."

"Then," I said, cocking my head, "What?"

He looked to his side. A chuckle escaped his lips. "You know when I got drunk?"

"Yeah."

"It's still a little hazy to me, but I think I talked about going to the city. Dad wouldn't come with us, but me and Mom went to peek at some of the schools there, which is like a place where humans get to learn about the world. We'd see the students walk sometimes and listen to them chatting together, or having cocoa while discussing the work there. Lots of interesting topics, like that Azumarill mentioned. It all sounded so important."

His cheerful expression dropped.

"I would've loved to have experienced that. There was nothing like that out there for us dumb Pokémon, after all. And yet they came here of all places, handing it over to you like it's nothing."

"Why not ask if you can come with them?"

"They only spoke about you!" he said, tears running down his face, "They obviously picked you for a reason! Besides, I can't come, I have to look after everyone else, I have to be the bigger, mature Pokémon here, I..."

He closed his eyes and took a series of deep breaths. After calming himself down, Trunks rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be showing weakness. What would Dad say if he saw me like this?"

"Forget Papa!" I said, putting my paw on his spike, "You're not weak. You take care of me and everyone else too."

"I know," he said, holding the spike as well before standing up. "Let's put this behind us. We'll talk to Mom about this first, alright?"

I nodded and got onto his back again.

Eventually, we reached the main camp where Mom hung out with our younger brothers, presumably in the middle of combing through their fur for brambles as she tended to Stumpy's back. When we stepped in, they all looked at us.

"Welcome back," she said, "You were out long."

"Mom," Trunks said, "I've got something important to tell you, without those two if you don't mind."

"Aw, c'mon bro," Stumpy said, looking like the kicked Riolu he was, "Why am I being left out?"

"It's not because of you dear," Mom brushed the last bit of Stumpy's coat and patted him on the back, "I can tell he has something worth talking to me about. Run along now, you two."

"No fair." Stumpy stood up and reluctantly picked Twig up too, dragging him out with his paw. Mom went up to us and smiled.

"Glad to see you two getting along. So what do you want to talk about?"

"It's about those two visitors from yesterday. They want her."

"For what?"

"For some sort of program. It sounds like one of those schools, if you know what I mean."

Mom quirked an eye at him. "Alright. Go on."

He basically explained the talk we had with Azzy, which again, mostly went over my head. Given how Mom would either say one thing or the other about human matters like this, I didn't know how she would react to it. My heart pounded in anticipation, hoping she would say yes. She didn't say anything at all at first, only nodding occasionally to Trunks' questions about this or that. After he was done explaining it all, she put her paws on her hips.

"Do you trust them, though? Keep in mind, you only met them yesterday, right?"

"I know that," Trunks said, "But I read both of their auras, and throughout the whole talk we had, none of them lied. None of their thoughts were any different from what they talked about, so as far as I can see, they're the real deal."

Mom went to lift me off his shoulders and sat me down. She knelt down as well to be at the same eye level, and stared at me with those multicoloured eyes of hers once more.

"Dear, what do you want out of life? Do you want to stay here forever?"

"I..." I felt like this was a trick question, like the sort parents usually do when they want to test your out. I knew in my heart though that wasn't what I wanted, so I shook my head in honesty.

"Then, what do you want to do once you're there?"

"Well," I rubbed my head, "I wanna do lots of things! I wanna see the world, I wanna not suck at drawing, I wanna be able to talk to these humans, at least. Dad could speak a little bit to them, can't he?"

"Yes, that's right. And me as well."

Another surprise. "Can you?"

"Of course. You don't hang around these humans for a long time and not learn some of their language."

"Can you show me?"

She broke her gaze as she looked to the side, and cleared her throat.

 _"H-hello, I-I am ah, ah, Lucario."_

There was a pause.

"Well, I'm not as good as he is, but you see what I mean. So you want to learn all of that, right?"

"Yeah, of course!"

Mom took a deep breath and puffed it back out. I couldn't help but read her aura, and what do you know, she had a lot of different emotions going on there too. She was not only excited, but happy and fulfilled as well. I detected a little bit of jealousy too, like Trunks did. I bet she would've loved to have gone there at my age, at a time when there's still a long lifespan ahead of you, about 20-30 years worth.

"You know, this all sounds crazy to me. I don't really know why they would sink so much into us Pokémon. But then again, it sounds crazy enough to work and there's no better alternative, the way I see it. So," she turned to Trunks, "They're coming back tonight, right?"

Trunks nodded. Mom opened her mouth to say something, before...

"YOU THREE!" Dad came along again, shouting at us the same way he shouted at that trainer. Stumpy and Twig was by his side. He charged over to Trunks and shook him by the shoulders.

"Pup! I trusted you to keep her safe from the shore and you went behind my back! What were you thinking?"

Trunks looked down, trying to avoid eye contact with him. "Dad, I-"

"Not another word out of you. And you," he stormed over to Mom next, almost touching the tip of her muzzle, "You're encouraging this sort of behaviour from them? With those humans?"

She didn't respond, but stared him down, looking the most fierce I've seen her before. Dad grunted, and finally turned to me, pinching one of my head appendages.

"Ow, Dad!" I said.

"Quiet! I'm grounding you, girl. You're to stay inside until you think about how silly you're behaving!"

"What did I do?"

He yanked on it and pulled me about, knocking me onto the floor. Dad started walking away to wherever he was taking me, dragging me through the dirt. I didn't even understand what was going on, poor me, so I started wailing. Really, what else would I have done in that situation? It was the first time he ever got that physically aggressive with me. Even though he always had a stick up his ass about something, it was hard to think of him as my Dad at this point. My cries seemed to work, or at least, I hoped it was because of that, as he let me go. I looked back up, only to see he was knocked to the ground by a fist. My Mom's fist. I crawled away from them, still sniffling like the confused Riolu I was. I watched the two of them argue as he grovelled on the floor, nursing his nose.

"LIAM!" Mom said, "Get back up and look at me, for God's sake!"

That was what I meant by him being a different case. That was his true name, the name given to him by his trainer.

Slowly, Liam pulled himself up, and tried to grapple Mom in a hold as she resisted. There was that murderous look of his again.

"How dare you call me that, I trusted you never to say that name again!"

"It's a bit too late for that, look at what you did to the poor girl!"

He glanced at me briefly, and I shielded my eyes from him. I shut myself in my own world as they continued their spat.

"Those humans have her possessed! They want to take her away and you're defending them! You know how badly they treated me!"

"Damn it, Liam, your trainer left you years ago! Move on and grow a pair, Mon!"

"Don't you talk to me like that, you never should've told her about them in the first place! All they've ever done is ruin everything they touch!"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you. All the stuff you brought back from the mainland, those hunting methods, that tent to shield us from the rain, the tire swing, the notepad, the box, you would never have thought of that if it wasn't for them. But sure, keep moaning about those humans while you use everything of theirs."

"That's not-"

"Go on this really long tantrum all you like, but don't drag us down along with you. Your daughter has the chance to make something of herself out there. We all could've done something about it, and yet you thought this was the best for all of them, shutting them out from the world entirely?"

"Don't act so high and mighty. You agreed to look out for this island with me in the first place. You wanted the same thing."

"Yes, I did, and I was stupid. But after such a long time, you start to do some thinking, and now I'm thinking this was a horrible idea. I don't want to bring down my kids forever, you know, it's about time some of them left the nest."

There was silence again. I opened my eyes and saw the two of them had stopped fighting. They just looked at each other, panting aggressively as a sea of emotions floating in the air around them. So many that there wasn't any way I could've read into them with my limited powers. Dad, or rather, Liam, crossed his arms.

"Still, my word is final, and if I say this is a bad idea, then you should all follow suit. None of you know what it's like to be close to them only to have it all ripped away from you. I was young once too, you know."

"Enough, Liam," Mom said, "What happened was out of your control. You told me so yourself, he only had to let you go because he lost his license. He was pleading for you to stay with him while they released you back into the wild. Are you really going to hold a grudge against him forever?"

"I'm not talking about it any more and that's that." He turned back to me, no longer looking as angry as he did before, but something about his face made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't see him the same way I had before.

"Pup, you have no idea what you want. If you go out with them, no matter how kindly they treat you at first, they will make you regret it. Forget all of this happened and live the rest of your life in peace."

"No, Liam," I said. I stood up and balled my paws into fists. "That's not fair."

His eyes twitched.

"Life isn't fair, pup. Lots of Pokémon I knew had dreams like yours, only to wind up dead. This will turn out no different then they did, believe me."

"You don't understand! Bro was out there too, he knew what it was like just as much as you, and told me how much the world sucked as well, yet even he said this was okay! Why won't you listen to us?

"Because you're both young and inexperienced. Now enough of this silly arguing. Forget about them, come have dinner with us, and sleep, like we've always done."

Looking back on it, I could understand where he was coming from as well. Once I had that same sort of experience, it sticks with you, you know. There were quite a few wild Pokémon I met after my escape that had the same thoughts of going to the city and living there, or convincing a trainer to capture them and come along with them on their journey.

There was one such Heracross I met. Strong as Heracrosses go. He could've toppled a tree if he so much blinked at it. We travelled together while I was on my way to Jubilife, and he wanted to see everything there like I did. In particular, he wanted to climb up to the top of the tallest tower there and glide from it, which would've made him happy. He got cocky though, and all it took was the claw of a stray Gabite to put him out of commission. There were a few more Pokémon I could think of that ended up the same way as he did, but I can't come up with more at the top of my head.

Point is, there were indeed many Pokémon that had goals of their own but ended up being killed because of one bad egg. Or in Liam's case, as I'd learn later, one event gone awry that ended up with his trainer having to give him up, all because of another Pokémon of his that suddenly snapped in the middle of a gym fight and killed the opponent's Pokémon. From what I heard, his trainer was a nice guy with goals of his own too. He taught him a lot of what Liam brought back to the island, after all, and Liam happened to inherit his cooking skills. I wouldn't have blamed Liam if he had some chip on his shoulder because of being separated and left to fend for himself.

That still doesn't change the fact that Liam was being a huge asshole about it.

Something about what he said just set me off. It was the way he said it, like I didn't know a piece of crap from a small rock. Like I said, I wasn't that smart, but I knew when he was talking down to me. So I swiped at his face, so hard that I drew blood from his cheek.

He nursed it. Another moment of silence. I could hear my heart leaping from my throat. I could hear the swaying of the trees above us. I could hear the gasps of both Mom and Trunks. I knew what was coming before it happened. He kicked me, sending me flying to a nearby tree. Then, there was nothing.


	14. Not The Last Goodbyes, For The Most Part

Being a human, you probably wouldn't know what it feels like to be trapped inside a ball. I don't really know for sure either. I'm sure Shine would be able to tell you since he probably knows more about the science behind that, but I don't know squat about it. That's where I ended up when I got knocked out anyway, inside a Pokéball.

Being unconscious and possibly concussed, my thoughts drifted in and out at random times, playing back random scenes in my head, like that of Azzy and Liam. I can't really describe the feeling of it, but it's like you're there and you're not at the same time. Like you're floating in jelly, or something, At least floating in jelly sounds tasty. In there, it feels like nothing.

Time passed, and it didn't pass at all. But when I next woke up, it had become night. A few hours must've passed since Liam mopped the floor with my scrawny ass and played curling with it. I didn't stir right away as I was battered and bruised from the previous encounter. But when I next opened my eyes, I saw the blue and white polka dots of Azzy's coat, along with the rest of my family crowding around me, save for Liam. When they saw I was awake, Mom gestured to the duo and Mackenzie pulled out a bottle from a box of his. He sprayed it all over my body. It stung a little, but in little time, I felt my young self again, like I hadn't been battered against a tree moments before. It's kind of funny how potions work like that, but I guess that's the magic of modern medicine.

I slowly got to my feet and looked around me. I was in the same spot I waited with Trunks before and the boat was there too. A pang of excitement nestled into my gut as I realised what was happening.

"Where's Li-, I mean Dad?"

"Don't you worry about him now dear, "Mom said, "You were trapped inside a Pokéball, but I took care of it."

"Are you really leaving?" Stumpy said, looking misty eyed.

"Yeah. I've got stuff I need to do."

Out of nowhere, he started wailing. Not really out of nowhere since crying was mostly what he did, but he was much louder about it this time and looked like more of a mess. It didn't take long for the runt Twig to start too, as the apple doesn't really fall far from the tree. Usually, I would've turned them away, but instead, seeing as how I wouldn't be seeing them for a while, I went up to both of them and hugged them together.

"C'mon, you goofballs," I said, "I'll be back someday."

"I'll miss you though!" Stumpy said, "And, and, that sounds like a really long time to me. Who knows what I'll do without you?"

"Too long! Too long!" Twig said.

I patted both of their backs and pulled away from them, leaving the two to comfort each other. I looked to Trunks next and climbed up his legs, and when I got to his head, he grabbed me by my coat and pulled me in for a hug. Well, he almost crushed me, truth be told. Lucario have strong grips.

"I'll hear from you soon," he said, "Promise me you'll try to keep in touch."

"I will, bro."

"C'mere, dear," Mom said. Trunks pulled me away and gave me to Mom for her to cradle me in her arms. She touched the tip of my nose.

"I'm so proud of you, dear." She leaned in for a kiss and whispered to me. "Once you get out, go to the top of Jubilife Tower for me." Before I questioned what she said, she lifted me back down to the floor, leaving me to board Azzy and Mackenzie's boat. But I turned around to Trunks, remembering what he said before we talked to Mom.

"Wait!" I said to the duo on the boat, "Can I talk to bro quickly?"

They nodded, and I ran away from the crowd, Trunks following behind me. He knelt down to my level.

"Make it quick or else Dad will come back."

"Yeah, I will. So aren't you coming with us?"

He shook his head.

"Unfortunately, they said they would only be taking in one Pokémon from each area your age. But they said they would try to help me out in the future."

"Aw," I said, frowning, "Sorry."

He smiled. "Don't be. As long as you're fine going out and make the most of your studies, that's enough to make me happy."

"But what about Dad though?"

Trunks blew a Razzberry, another rare thing for him to do. "Whatever, he can live with it. Just focus on yourself." He put a paw on my shoulder. "There's a future for you out there. Chase after it. Oh!" His eyes widened and he ran back to the group, and I followed him. At last, Trunks gave me back the drawing set from before, and I squeezed it tightly. The duo got back on board and gestured over to me. I looked to my family one last time and waved to them.

"I'll talk to you all soon, I swear it! I promise I'll make you proud!"

And so, little me boarded the ship, waving back at my family while Mackenzie started the boat. Soon enough, they drove away from the island, and I continued waving back until my family faded into the background. Part of me wondered where Dad was in all of this, but since the spat I had earlier, I shrugged it off and turned to the duo. Mackenzie held a Pokéball. I recognised it as the thing Dad trapped me in, and I took a step back, feeling sick again. Azzy smiled and took my paw in his.

"Don't worry, we'll keep you safe here. We'll release you when we get there."

I eased up a little and let Mackenzie approach me with the Pokéball. He knelt before me and held it out to me, like that trainer did before. Something inside me knew that would seal the deal between us, the part where I would finally agree to be taken to GeL. I tapped it and soon enough, I was sealed inside.

I would learn later that winter hadn't been so kind on my family months after I got away from the island. I met up with Trunks and Mom a while ago, and they had gotten out of it fine. The rest had perished in the cold trying to trek through the frozen ocean with them, but that's for another time, I guess.


	15. Ambrette's Beach Bum

"Right," Curio said, holding a paw up, "That's enough for now."

Tony complied and pressed the record button to stop. There was a moment of silence in the room as Curio stretched her arms, squirming in her seat. Tony hummed to himself and looked down to Shine, who had stood up.

"Wait, they died?"

"Yup," Curio said, yawning, "Didn't get to see it happen of course."

"I'm so sorry."

"Feh, don't be. It happened a long time ago, so it wasn't anything I cried my eyes out over. Just goes to show how lucky I was when I got out." She let out a toothy grin. "At least I didn't turn into a Riolu sized popsicle like Stumpy did."

"Don't joke about that!" Shine shouted. His face trembled as tears began to form in his eye. "You lost half your family, that's terrible! I knew how hung up you were when you stopped hearing back from them in GeL, so why?"

"Well, I got over it. Besides, it's not your business to decide what I do and don't get to joke about."

"But, you told me how much you missed them. After all of that, you..." Shine closed his eye and let the stream fall down his face. "Oh, Curio."

His sobs echoed in the room. Tony tended to him, stroking his back while looking at Curio.

"Oh please," Curio said, "Stop crying, Shine. If this is going to happen every time I talk about something tragic that happens, you'd be floodin' this whole room in no time."

Shine didn't stop. Curio sighed, then frowned, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Aw, damn it. Now you're makin' me upset." Curio lurched out of her seat to embrace Shine, when Tony stepped out of the way to leave the two alone. Curio stroked his mane and he looked up at her, letting Curio wipe away his tears.

"I'm fine," Curio said, "I promise. You don't need to be sad on my behalf."

"I know," Shine said, sniffling, "I don't even know what it's like to lose part of your family. The closest I ever had was back in GeL."

"It's complicated, that's all I'll say. Now," Curio leaned in to hug him, "Please stop. From now on, there'll be no crying until the end, okay?"

Shine didn't answer.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Curio let go and stood up, looking to Tony.

"We'll carry on tomorrow, alright? For now, I'm gonna buzz off somewhere else."

"Wouldn't you like to stay the night with Shine, though? I can pull up a bed if you want."

"No thanks, not in this shithole, and especially not with you."

Tony was about to respond when Curio made her way towards the door.

"Hold on," Shine said, "Where will you stay?"

"The beach, of course. I found the perfect spot earlier, so that's where I'll stay. See ya in the morning." She smiled before walking off. The door slammed not long after. Tony laughed to himself.

"Well," Tony said, "She's quite the character, isn't she?"

"She's rude, that's what she is. I'm sorry for her behaviour today."

"Don't mention it. I deal with stuff like this all the time at work. I've put up with worse, but that's part and parcel of working in a team."

Shine hummed. He had known one of Tony's co-workers was particularly unpleasant to deal with, not only being resistant to Shine but also messing up Tony's paperwork on a few occasions when the workload was busy. He came back one day and told him while he smelled of beer.

"I guess so. I'll tell her to be a bit more patient with you next time."

"I appreciate the effort." Tony knelt down to Shine and combed his hand through his fur. "Your coat's all sticky. You weren't slimed on by any chance?"

Shine's eye went wide. "How did you guess?"

"Got a bit of it in my hair as a kid once, from a trainer who couldn't keep control of his Goomy. Nasty stuff, that is. I think this calls for a bath."

"You sure?" he said, looking at the set up, "Don't you need to back up the video first?"

"I can do that later," Tony said as he turned off the lightboxes around him, leaving only the dim ceiling lamp on. "I'll get changed so we can start, shall we?"

Moments later, Shine went with Tony to the bathroom, who was covered with anti-static gear and slippers to keep himself grounded. He sat the big Pokémon down on the smooth floor and pulled up a chair behind him before turning on the shower. He grabbed the head with a rubber-gloved hand and started rinsing the gunk out of Shine's coat.

"So," Tony said, "How did you find her?"

"Well, I did say it was a long story. I'll confess, I drew out 20000 of your money to get there."

"Hmm," Tony sprayed Shine in the back with his special shampoo, "I did say that was only for emergencies, like if I was out on a trip and you had to stay at home."

"Yes, I guess that wasn't much of an emergency. Still, I had to get there as soon as possible. I didn't know if I would've found her if I didn't ride a Dragonite there."

"Oh, so that's how you got there. What was it like? Can't say I've ever ridden one before."

"It'll make you sick, but besides that, I'm in debt. What I brought out wasn't enough, so I'm paying it back by teaching some of the dragons the human tongue."

"Oh really? That's impressive, Shine. Glad to see you're putting your skills to good use."

"Thanks."

Shine squirmed a little as Tony scrubbed where the Goodra slime hit. It felt thick when he felt it hit him, so it must've taken some force to get out, after all.

"I'm sorry I ran off without much notice, I should've waited until you got home from work."

"No, it's alright. Ines told you we were swamped, so I couldn't blame you if you were itching to go out. I always thought you should be going out more often, to be honest."

"But you're my trainer, I should tell you these sorts of things."

"Trainer in name only. You're a mature Luxray now, I wouldn't hold it against you if you went on more trips like these. You've proven yourself to be independent, which is more than I can say for a lot of Pokémon I've met. Don't you reckon?"

It crossed Shine's mind often. He would've liked to see Lumiose City, if only to see the Plaza Tower there and the massive library, one of the biggest in the world in Kalos' capital. He didn't meet many Pokémon in Ambrette that shared the same wish as him, not even Bauble. Still, there was nothing stopping him from going out more, but when he thought about it, he often thought about what would go wrong on the way, like if he was attacked by a random gang of wild Pokémon.

"I suppose."

"Well then, something to think about. Say, if you want to make it up for the money you took, I would suggest you to cut the sweet spending for a bit. Deal?"

"Deal."

After the bath, the two headed off to the studio again to pick the camera up. Shine thought back to the conversation Curio had with Tony prior to storming off, and remembered she left without taking her bag with her, which was still on the couch. When Shine saw it, he turned to Tony.

"I'll be right back," he said, "I've got to take this to Curio."

Tony nodded as Shine picked up the bag, carrying the handle in his mouth, and headed out of the apartment to the beach Curio said she would be at, which she was. She was alone on the sandy shore, running alongside the ocean waves which crashed in at a low tide. She stopped as she approached Shine.

"Yo." She waved a paw in the air. "Thanks for picking that up for me."

Shine handed the bag over to her as she patted the slobber off.

"Well, if I'm being honest, I kind of planted it there for you to pick up."

"You did?" Shine said. "Why?"

"Eh, gave you a good excuse to come running after me. I could tell you wanted to talk to me after."

"I suppose."

Curio gestured to a spot in the middle of the shore as the two sat together, watching the sea come in and out with a pod of Lapras swimming in the distance.

"Your trainer chose a good place to live, at least."

"Yes, about Tony," Shine said, "Are you still upset with him being my trainer?"

"Course not."

"Then why are you acting like this towards him?"

"I dunno. Just a gut feeling, I guess. Nothing to do with him in particular, he's nice as far as I know."

"Like I said, please be more patient with him. The last thing he needs after work is a Pokémon with spikes arguing with him."

"Alright, alright," Curio held hew paws up in front of her, "I'll ease up on him. I just need time, is all."

Shine looked Curio in the eye and inched close to her. She must've sensed his emotions as she put a paw around him.

"You're still thinking about what happened, aren't you?"

"Well," Shine said, "Yes. You just said it so suddenly. So what actually happened to your family, will you tell me?"

"Eh, maybe another time. I don't wanna go into too much detail of what happened that winter."

"What about the other two?"

"Oh. Yeah, they're fine. Last I saw them, Trunks was living with a trainer in Canalave City. Not exactly how I would've liked him to end up, but it's better than nothing, I suppose. Mom lives with that trainer's family as a permanent guest. She's blind now, you see."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Again, don't be. It's pretty much just a slap on the wrist for her since she can still use aura. Kind of makes the thing a bit pointless, except she can't see buildings and stuff."

"How did that happen?"

"Apparently, well, you see both my eyes?"

Curio pointed to her face where her green eyes glinted in the moonlight.

"Yeah, unusual for a Lucario. Like I said, her eyes were both green and red. Turns out it was part of a rare defect. Not that I remember the name of it, but still, she lost her sight over time, and seeing how she's still kicking, that isn't too bad."

"I see. So, do you think you'd be ready to talk about GeL next?"

"Yeah. As much as I hate it, I can't keep avoiding the past like Liam, or Dad did. I guess that's what I learned from this experience so far." Then, Curio chuckled. "God, that sounds cheesy,"

"It's not, Curio, that sounds great."

"I guess so."

Curio yawned and lied down on the sand with her bag behind her head. She turned to Shine.

"I'm beat. I've gotta get some shut eye. You're probably knackered as well, aren't ya?"

Shine nodded.

"Well, night."

Curio closed her eyes and started snoring, not in the way one naturally does when they actually have a snoring problem, but in the way one does when they want someone to buzz off. Shine took the hint and returned to his apartment with Tony waiting for him. They reviewed some of the footage together with Curio, which totalled to about three hours worth of video, and decided to leave it for later before turning in for the night. Before Shine went to bed, he caught a glance at the window in the kitchen. It was still open. His collar was resting on the windowsill.


	16. Ambrette's Climbers

_The Curious and the Shiny Chapter 16. Ambrette's Climbers_

 _The Limbo Arc._

 ** _"Time builds itself painlessly around them. Their only landmarks are the flavour of the moment they are living and the markings on the walls." - La Jetée_**

The next day started on an odd note. At the moment Tony said his goodbyes to Shine to head to work, he came back in with a bucket covering his head, dripping with water and covered in glitter. Tony had shock written on his face, probably the most surprised Shine had seen him in a long time. Shine himself found his maw hanging open.

"What on Earth?" Shine said.

"That's what I want to know!" Ugh!" Tony wrung his shirt dry, although the rest of his face was sparkling pink. "I can't go to the office like this, I need to get changed! Shit, I'm gonna be late at this rate!"

Tony rushed to the shower to rid himself of the sparkly substance. Shine thought he'd save some time for him by getting him a new change of clothes, all wrapped up beforehand for him, which he picked up with his mouth and laid at the nearest couch. He also thought he'd see who was responsible, if they were still around, so he turned on his golden vision to see through the walls outside. He saw a Lucario hanging around on the opposite side of the floor, although one particular detail about their left arm told Shine everything he needed to know about who the perpetrator was. He clenched his teeth, waiting for Tony to leave so he could tell Curio off.

Time passed and Tony emerged from the bathroom, scrambling to put his new change of clothes on. As soon as he got dressed, Tony headed for the door, but not before saying this.

"Pardon my language."

Shine waited a moment before checking outside, and who else would be waiting for him but Curio, sporting that toothy grin of hers.

"Yo! Hope you slept well after yesterday!"

"Why did you do that, Curio? After what I told you about being patient with him?"

"Yeah, I understood that. Doesn't mean I can't twist his arm a little, huh?"

"Yes, but he might be late for work thanks to you."

"Oh really?" Curio said, showing a bit of mock concern. "Oh well, he'll be fine. Now," she rubbed her paws together, "What're we up to today?"

"Apologise first, and I'll tell you."

"Alright, fine, sorry."

"And say you're sorry to Tony when you meet him as well."

"Yeah, I got it! Now, what're we doing?"

"Well," Shine said, moving back into the house with Curio, and thought about what the two would do around town since Curio would be the tourist in this situation. There were plenty of places, but where would he start? There was the library, that was his go to place, but she would probably find that boring, or would she?

"Yeah," Curio said, stopping his train of thought, "The library sounds dumb. How about I start?"

"But I didn't say-" He stopped himself. Again, Curio was as omniscient as ever. "Alright, fine. You decide what to do."

"Okey dokey. How about a house tour?"

"I thought you said this place was a dunghole."

"Yeah, I exaggerated a bit. It would be nice to see what you get up to, though."

"Alright then. Follow me."

The first place he thought of was his bed, right in the corner of Tony's bedroom, which had a plush bed and a lengthy bookcase installed near Shine's height at the back. Curio smiled at the sight of it.

"Cute. Is that it?"

"No," Shine said, looking from left to right to find other points of interest, then it struck him.

"Oh, just remembered! Barley should've sent me a friend request."

"A what now?" Curio said, head cocked. Shine led the way to their computer, which was switched off. Shine pressed the power button and climbed up onto the seat as the fans whirred up.

"Oh!" Curio said, "This is one of them things! Haven't touched those in ages! So it still lets you look anything up and stuff?"

"Yes," Shine said with a smile, "But you can do much more than that. You can watch videos, talk to friends with a connection, and much more. It's really taken off over the past few years."

The room was silent for a bit as they stared at the blank screen. Shine turned to her.

"This might take a little while," he said.

"Whatever you say, mon," Curio said. Her stomach growled. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Shine said, but Curio didn't answer, going into the kitchen without his say-so. He thought of stopping her, as it was customary to ask first before raiding someone else's fridge, but he was sure Tony didn't mind. Besides, Curio wasn't in as comfortable a position as Shine was.

"Want anythin'?" Curio called from the other room.

"No thanks," Shine said. Later, Curio returned to his side, munching on a cucumber as she stared at the start-up screen of the PokeOS.

"What now?" she said.

"Oh, I've got it." Shine swung in his seat and put his paw on a trackball, which he used to navigate the screen in lieu of a mouse. He clicked on his icon, bringing up the home screen, with a wallpaper of him and Tony together. Curio pointed at the multiple icons.

"What're all of those?"

"They're programs that are built in with software."

"And what's that?"

"That's just the mouse cursor. Will you let me search something up quickly?"

"What's that?"

"You know how to search up something, you just type in whatever comes to your head and there it is."

"What's type?"

Shine couldn't help but laugh, considering Curio had her paw on a computer a few times in GeL before.

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am. Go ahead."

Shine brought up the web browser and inhaled.

"Bring up voice mode."

The computer beeped.

VOICE MODE ON.

"Search, PokeSpeaker's Forum, first result."

His words brought the home page of the titular forum up. There was 1 message in the inbox, a friend request from Barley, who went by the screen name was 'ChildishAudino', which Shine accepted.

"So what is this site?" Curio asked.

"Oh, this is a place where human-speaking Pokémon can talk online, or trainers that want to get involved in the community as well. It's small, but it has its place."

"Woah, awesome. I never woulda known this place woulda existed if you hadn't shown me."

Shine swivelled to her direction.

"Well, there are lots of places online for little communities like ours. Besides, seeing how you're a teacher yourself, I'm surprised you haven't come across this before."

"Ya know," Curio said, biting off a huge chunk, "I don't boffer wiff that thort of thuff. I travel a lot, and iff not like I can afford a fanfy computer like that."

"Really? Have you not been to the library once since you escaped? They do have computers there you can use for free."

"A few timeth." Curio swallowed. "Never really had the need to be cooped up in a library all day."

"Well, that's a good place to start. And if you need to find someone to hire you, this site's the place to post. You can set up an account here now if you like."

"Eh, I'll pass." Then, Curio's face lit up, and she tapped the monitor.

"Don't do that," Shine said, "The screen's sensitive."

"Hold up, I'm trying to think! Ooh, can you search up GeL and see if anything's there?"

Shine shook his head. "Sadly, I've found nothing."

"No way, I'll see it when I believe it. Move over."

Curio wheeled the chair out of the way so she could take Shine's place. She brought up a new tab without even having to ask, and typed in 'Gestalt Learning Facility' with the digits of her paws. Only a few hundred results showed up and Curio clicked through all of them, only to find all of them were unrelated to the GeL project, just links leading to Gestalt theory. Curio sighed.

"Dammit."

"Sorry, Curio," Shine shifted himself forward, wheeling him back in place, "As far as I know, all of it's been covered up. Me and Tony looked, even at the old archives in all the libraries we could go to and couldn't find anything. If it's not on the Web, it's not anywhere else."

Curio gave Shine a hard look, and for a moment, Shine could see that hollowness in her eyes, the same one he saw days before when he first mentioned GeL. Then it disappeared and Curio looked her usual chirpy self again.

"Oh well," she said, "Worth a shot anyway." Curio popped the last of the cucumber in her mouth, chewing noisily. "Warra go outh noo?"

"Please talk after you've eaten."

Curio narrowed her eyes at him and swallowed.

"I said, wanna go out now?"

"Right now?" Shine said, leaping off the chair, "Don't you want to see more of this?"

"Eh, later. We'd be starin' at it all day unless we went out. Besides, you're still my tour guide, ya know."

"That's true," Shine nodded, "Well, where to next?"

"The centre, of course! There's always somethin' interesting going on there!"

"Right, town square it is." Shine went towards the door, and as he caught a glimpse of the windowsill in the kitchen, he thought back to what he saw last night.

"Actually," Shine said, stopping Curio. "Can you help me put my collar back on?"

"Really?" she said, frowning, "You want that on?"

"Yes, if you'd please. It's in the kitchen, the red thing by the window. You shouldn't miss it."

"Whatever." Curio went to retrieve it and came up behind Shine, adjusting the collar around his neck. "I thought you would've preferred it without it, being free and all."

"I don't have to put it on," Shine said, grunting as Curio clipped it around his neck, "It's just a present Tony got, so I'd like him to see it on."

Curio mumbled to herself, and looked at Shine with his collar on at last. She put a paw on her hip. "Nah, really doesn't suit you."

"Oh well," he said, "Let's get a move on."

Shine made his way out of the complex with Curio and walked through the streets to the town centre as it started to become more crowded towards noon. Tourists in casual wear came with their Pokémon, carrying various things such as toys, balls and surfboards for the beach as the tide was picking up, and the stalls were already out in the very centre of the town, selling bread, berries, and other knicknacks every visitor could hope to chance upon. Shine looked over to Curio, who was not beside him. Instead, she was near a stall that sold pastries, reaching out towards a scone while the owner was tending to his stock at the back. Shine went up to her quickly before she could lay her paw on it, and nudged her leg.

"What are you doing?" he whispered.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Curio replied.

"Can I help you at all?" the owner chimed in, staring at the one armed Lucario, dumb-struck. He caught Shine and smiled to him. "Oh, hello. Do you want the usual?"

Shine found himself sniffing at the contents of the stall and leaned towards them. He only got so far before he shook his head and pulled away. "No thanks, I'm afraid. Tony told me to cut out the sweet spending for now."

He nodded. "Fair enough. Our turnovers will be waiting for you in the future." Shine bowed to him and shot a glance at Curio to wrangle her out of the scene.

"Were you about to steal from him?"

"Yeah," Curio said, "So?"

"So? I don't want your first day to be spent talking to the city watch."

"Second day. And I wouldn't've needed to if you hadn't alerted him."

"Alright, just try not to get into any trouble while you're here, okay?"

"Fine."

They wandered around a bit more until Shine caught sight of a familiar bread stall where the Trainer-Bunnelby duo, Hilda and Bobby, waited. Bobby saw Shine first and started to bounce over to him, only to trip halfway through and land on his face. He groaned as he picked himself up.

"You alright?" Shine said.

"Yeah," Bobby said, smiling through his bloody nose, "Glad to see you've come back."

"How did you know I was out?"

"Tony, of course. But I didn't see you for three days so I had a hunch anyway. Up for some biscuits?"

"Yes please." Shine went with Bobby to the stall. The Bunnelby sprung up on the table counter, waving his paws in front of him as he almost lost balance, but was able to steady himself in time. The owner Hilda noticed Shine next, giving him a dimpled smile.

"'Ello!" she said, "Where've you been?"

"Out on a trip, ma'am," Shine said, "How're the kids?"

"Oh, same old, same old. They won't stop pesterin' Bobby each time they get off school. Won't let 'im up, not even for one second, I tell you." She guffawed in the air, being her loud self, as usual. Then she turned to Curio and rubbed her hands together.

"Hello there! You're a pretty girl, aren't you, yes you are, yes you are!" She spoke in a high pitched squeal as she approached Curio, ready to pet her. Curio frowned.

"Are you high or somethin', lady?" she said in human tongue.

"Ooh, why this one has quite the mouth on her, doesn't she?" Hilda retracted her hands and her eyes grew wide, though nonetheless happy to be looking at a Lucario, as she often did as far as Shine knew. "You certainly bring the most interesting Pokémon with you, Shiny-dear."

"Yes, you could say that," Shine said. "Oh, how rude of me. Curio, meet Hilda. Hilda, meet Curio." He glanced at Curio and prodded her with his tail. If all went well, Curio would let down her guard and be the civilised Pokémon she was meant to be, as Shine thought. She smiled, and handed Hilda her paw.

"Nice meetin' ya. Lay off the baby talk and we can be friends."

"Will try," Hilda returned the offer and gave her a handshake, "Don't mind me, it's just force of habit, that's all. You close with Shine?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Are you closer than that, perhaps?"

"Dream on, lady."

Hilda gave her signature boisterous laugh and walked to the opposite end of her store. "Only just teasin', I love a bit o' gossip. 'Ere."

She returned with two bags of homemade biscuits, which was tradition for Shine to get whenever they met. Curio beamed at the sight of it.

"For you and Shiny-dear." She handed one bag to Curio and gestured for Shine to lean up on the counter. He did so and she wrapped the bag around his collar. "'Ave one now if you'd like."

"Well, gee, thanks." Curio undid the plastic wrap and devoured one of the biscuits. She hummed as she chewed.

"What do you put in thith, thith is goof!"

Another dimpled smile. "That's a secret, dearie." She turned to Shine. "Anything planned for t'day?"

"Why yes, I'm showing Curio around the place, since she's new here."

"Oh, is she?" Hilda said, "Well, I hope you two 'ave fun. It's nice seein' you again, and to meet you as well, Curio-dear."

Shine bowed while Curio smiled back at Hilda. "Keep up the good work, lady," she said, popping another biscuit in her mouth, "Peath."

They went off to explore more of the stalls, while were made up of some familiar faces that greeted Shine and not-so familiar faces that stared at the two as they passed by. Shine was beginning to notice the attention he was getting, and he looked at Curio, who didn't seem to care less as she went through Hilda's batch.

"Doesn't it bother you whenever you get looks with that arm?" Shine said, "I'm sure you notice it a lot with that aura of yours."

"Nah, not really," Curio said, "Let 'em look. If they don't like it, they can get stuffed, really."

Shine smiled. "That's something to live by, I suppose." Shine remembered how he felt when he first lost his eye and how difficult it was to feel normal around the other subjects in GeL, never mind the numerous issues he had with depth perception afterwards.

Next, they went closer to the seaside, where the tourist parts of the area usually bustled, and today was no exception. As usual, there were lines of people and Pokémon waiting outside for ice cream vendors, and the occasional screaming toddler that came out of the arcades as well. They walked on the pavement, looking into the views of the amusements as Curio pointed to several of the machines there.

"Look!" she said.

"What am I looking at exactly?" Shine said. Curio patted his shoulder and brought him along with her to see a crane game filled with all sorts of Pokémon plushies. She flashed Shine another toothy grin.

"You reckon I could beat one of these?" she said.

"Probably not. They're rigged."

"Yeah, I know it's mostly about luck, but I still have a chance, don't I?"

"As long as you have tokens first."

"Yeah, that would help." She looked from her left to her right, then clicked her paw. "X-ray vision!"

"What?"

"Yeah, use your x-ray vision to see if there are any of them tokens lying about!"

Shine chuckled to himself. "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm dead serious!"

"Look, my golden vision can see through walls and buildings to detect people, much like your aura. I'm not some magical coin-seeking fairy."

"Well," she said, pointing to the area behind her, "Let's look anyway."

He wondered what the point of all this was as he wandered the arcades along with Curio in her token-seeking escapades. Their results proved fruitless until he caught sight of a few coins hiding under the crevice of another machine, which Curio picked up with glee. They inserted the coins into the machine, which was enough for one play. Curio flexed her arms, preparing to hit GO.

"Fat chance," Shine said, "Payouts are usually one in a hundred."

"I reckon I can be that one then. In fact, I'll bet on it. If I lose, I'll go along with whatever you say for the rest of today. If I win, you can go eat an old shoe."

He opened his maw to protest, but something in his gut told him he was going to have to get used to her impulsive betting.

"Fine, you're on."

"Sweet." Curio slammed the button and the game started. She was eyeing a large Ursaring in the corner, which she targeted with her claw. It descended on the teddy bear, dragging the poor inanimate object by its ear as it brushed past all the other trapped plushies. Then it let go, releasing the giant plush into the winning hole, only to be stuck inside. Shine looked on, gobsmacked. Curio grinned widely as she stuck her paw in the slot and squeezed her prize out. She hugged it in her arms as they walked out into the sunlight again.

"Told ya so. I hope you like the taste of shoe, Shine."

"There's no way I'm doing that. You've made your point, I'm not playing along with your bet this time."

"C'mon, a deal's a deal."

"Not this time."

"Aw." Curio stopped and stared at her newly won companion in its beady eyes. "Tell me, is Shine a wuss-puss?" She shook its body gently. "Oh, he is?" Curio turned to Shine again and presented the toy in front of him. "See, even he thinks so and his guts are made of wool!"

"Oh, har har har. You should be good friends with him then, seeing how your brain is full of wool too."

The two stared daggers at each other for a moment, then laughed as they embraced each other, two Pokémon and one stuffed bear in arms.

"You ain't half bad, Sunshine," Curio said.

"And you." Shine said.

"Who?" A squawky voice called. The two broke away from each other to see Bauble standing on the floor, beak upturned.

"You come to steal him away from me?" Bauble said, staring Curio down.

"And you are?"

"Oh," Shine said, standing beside the Murkrow. "This is Bauble."

Curio's eyes lit up as she pointed at her. "Oh yeah, you were that friend he was talking about."

"Yeah," Bauble said, preening her coat, "And what's it to you?"

"Oh, so you're jealous, huh? Relax, I'm not competing with you, it's not like some friendship measuring contest."

"You're spending time with him without me," she said, "That's competition enough."

Curio shrugged and shoved the Ursaring in the bag, fishing through the rest of its contents with her whole arm in it. "Say, is it true what they say about you Murkrow liking shiny things?"

"Don't know what you're talkin' about. That won't work on-" Bauble stared in awe as Curio pulled out a red looking stone, a ruby by the looks of it, whose innards gleamed in the sunlight. Curio smiled.

"You can have it if you want." Curio laid it on the floor and Bauble immediately flocked to pick it up, keeping it stowed away safely in her mouth. Shine looked at Bauble, who looked as happy as a Clamperl.

"I promise I'll spend time with you as well." Shine said and bowed to her, "Thanks to you, I was able to find an old friend I haven't seen in a long time. I'm truly thankful."

Bauble laid the stone back on the pavement and smiled at him. "Well, make it up to me later, will ya? I see you've got your collar back as well."

"Yes, why did you give it back, though? You seemed happy to have it."

"I know," she said with a wink, "I was just yankin' your tail. Well, have fun, lovebirds."

Bauble picked the ruby back and bobbed her head to them as she took off in the air, disappearing past the buildings.

"Seriously," Curio said, "Why does everyone think we're dating?"

"I haven't a clue."

Once they had enough of walking through the beach, they decided to go up a path that led to the cliffside, which gave them a good view of the town from up high. They saw the amusements they passed by not moments ago as just a speck beside the blue chunk of sea, and down below the edge, they could see both the aquarium and the marine centre.

"So," Curio said, "What does Tony actually do? I know he dives and stuff."

"That's only a small part of the job. A lot of it is just checking out the environment by the seaside, examining the life there and collecting data based off of it. If any Pokémon's in serious danger, his job is to help rescue and rehabilitate them."

"Sounds exciting."

"I've heard it can be, but he says it's mostly just dealing with paperwork."

"Eh, maybe not then."

Curio stopped, taking a closer look at the building, which was connected to the back of the aquarium and functioned as a backdoor office to it. She squinted her eyes at it, or rather through it, as Shine had seen that look quite a few times whenever she was about to read something's aura. She looked back to Shine and put a paw on her chin quizzically.

"Say, what do you call those Pokémon that have arms and such, but their lower half is just a fin?"

"Is this the start of a joke?"

"Not this time."

"Ah, well." He hadn't thought of checking what the office was working on the day he heard of the news surrounding Curio. Tony seemed to be busier than usual since he got back, but it didn't occur to him until the aura Pokémon mentioned it. He turned on his golden vision to confirm what Curio was describing, and true to her word, there was a finned Pokémon that rested in some sort of chamber. If he remembered correctly, it was...

"A Primarina."

"Huh," Curio said, "Strange. How did that get here?"

"It's not exceedingly rare to have Alolan Pokémon wash up on this shore, but I've never seen something as big as that here before."

"Oh yeah?" Curio said, taking a few steps forward, "Well, let's check it out."

"We can't," Shine said, stopping her, "I'm only really allowed in on the best of days, and that's only because I'm with Tony. Why would they let a random Lucario waltz in?"

"Well, I could just say I'm his new Pokémon and leave it at that. But why not sneak in?"

"Absolutely not. If it's resting, it's extremely important that we don't disturb it. We don't know why they're there in the first place."

"Well, we can try to take a closer peek, can't we?"

"No," he said flatly. Curio crossed her arms.

"I don't like your attitude. Where's your sense of adventure gone, for godssakes?"

"That's got nothing to do with that. I'm just following his rules, as you should do this time too."

"Yeah." She wagged a metal finger at him. "Of course you would, like any good Pokémon tied to its master."

She stormed off, making her way further down the path as Shine tried to catch up with her. Her paws were dangerously close to the cliff-face.

"Let's not have this argument now, please. Why does everything have to circle back to me being his Pokémon all the time?"

"I dunno. Why can't you just take a risk for once?"

"This isn't about that, this is about the other Pokémon there. Try thinking about them for once."

"And who came along with you for this interview, huh?!" At this point, Curio was shouting. Her feet stomped on the rocky floor, still inching closer to the edge.

"Curio, please, get away from the edge, you're gonna fall."

"Stop tellin' me what to do, Shine! I-" A rock broke out from under her left paw. She slipped off the edge.

"HOLY SHIT!" Shine screamed. He scrambled immediately to where Curio had fallen, as he felt his heart beat in his throat. He couldn't see her anywhere below, not even in mid air as he could only see the yellow surface of the beach.

"Curio," he shouted, "Answer me if you're there, Curio! Curio!"

"Hey," a distant voice called, "To your right."

Shine glanced to his side and saw Curio huddled near the cliff, hanging onto the wall with all four paws nestled in the crevices. From far away, she craned her neck to look up to him.

"Watch your language next time!"

"Sorry!" he called out, then shook his head, "Wait, it's no time to be joking like that, I need to send for help!"

"No need! I just have to scale down a bit so I can reach the shore. I should be able to reach my foot down."

"I can't just leave you hanging there!"

"Sure you can, I'll be fine, I just have to..." Curio's voice trailed off. Shine looked down to see she was kicking at the wall to see where she could put her foot. She struggled for a while, then stopped.

"Bugger. Um, Shine, I'm gonna do something very stupid. Meet me back down there." Without warning, Curio leapt off the edge.

"Curio!" he screamed. Shine bolted through the rest of the cliff, kicking gravel into the air along the way, until he ran down the stairs that lead to the beach area. He saw Curio lying down on her left from far away and scrambled to tend to her.

"Curio! Are you alright?"

She looked at Shine and smiled.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Can you fetch that bag for me please?" She pointed at it, which was closer to the rock wall on the floor. Shine nodded and brought it to her, which she clutched with her metal arm. "I might have to head to the Pokémon Centre later though."

Shine cocked his head. "Why?"

"Well," Curio winced as she raised her right arm, which limped and bent in a way that arms shouldn't normally be able to. "That should be reason enough."

Shine gasped. He stared at the other arm Curio just broke, and a cluster of thoughts rushed in at once.

"Why, your arm, what are you g-going to do?! I-I mean, how did that happen? How are they going to replace it? Why-"

"Don't lay an egg over it. It can be fixed up in a matter of hours," Curio said as she knelt up, supporting herself with her metal arm firmly on the ground, "They can fix cuts and broken bones of course. I had plenty of nasty falls when I was still learning the ropes in Sinnoh, but it's fine if they can easily repair it."

Shine sighed in relief. No, he told himself, it wasn't like last time where it needed to be replaced fully. It wasn't like his eye which was completely taken out. As long as blood cells could be regenerated or bone tissue could be fixed, it wasn't a problem. That much relieved him. But he felt an urge deep in his gut, something that burned within him with the heat of the spiciest herbs Kalos had to offer. He sunk his paws deep into the sand, then, taking one pace back, he tackled Curio, knocking her to the ground.

"Shine, what the-"

"Don't scare me like that, dammit!" Shine roared in her face. "You've got to be more careful around these parts, I don't even know what would happen if I lost you here suddenly! What were you thinking?!"

Curio frowned.

"I dunno. I do stupid crap sometimes. Sorry."

Shine sighed and relaxed, taking himself off of Curio's body.

"Alright. But for next time, please listen to me if I ask you not to do something. Am I clear?"

Curio smiled, and rubbed Shine's back with her good arm. "Yeah, you're clear. Help me up a sec."

Shine hooked his claws into the ground, allowing Curio to use his body for support as she got herself up again. She looked around at the rest of the beach where a few people crowded and stared at her. Ignoring them, she turned back to Shine.

"As your last duty for tour guide for today, can you take me to the Pokémon Centre?"

Shine nodded.

The last leg of the trip passed in silence. Even though the rest of the town was still just as busy as ever, Shine drowned out the noises of the crowd as his thoughts stewed on the events that passed in the past few hours. What was Curio playing at? She didn't seem much different, as she was still her reckless self, but now, he felt like he had to traipse his paws through a path of eggshells to talk with her. If this way how she behaved on a regular day, how would she act when going down to Tony's again, after yesterday's excursion?

Then, Curio broke the silence.

"Sorry I'm being an ass at the moment."

Shine muttered a reply, not wanting to agree or disagree with her.

"I've got no excuse for it, it's just the way I am sometimes. I can't easily help it. Once I feel something, I just have to run with it, you know."

"Right," Shine said, "I just want to know what goes through your head sometimes. It must be nice having aura powers and all."

"Well yeah, it is, sometimes. But other times, I wish I didn't have it, prying into other people's thoughts and stuff. It ruins the surprise of meeting people when you can instantly know what they're thinking about you, or what their favourite meal is, or what time in the day they usually have to pee."

"Why not stop?"

"It's not as simple as that. It's how we usually survive in the wild. It's how I survived when I left. I can't just flick it off like a light-switch, now it's just another impulse. But I digress. I will make it up for you and Tony when I come in today. Somehow."

"Are you sure you want to do it today after taking that fall?"

Curio nodded vigorously. "Of course! I wanna talk about what happened at GeL, I really wanna pick his brain about it as well! So once I get this sorted, I promise I'll meet you there! I swear it on my tail!"

"Well," Shine said, staring at the adorned red top of the building in front of him, "We are here. Can you take yourself in?"

"Yeah," Curio said, heading towards the entrance of the Pokémon centre. "Well, thanks. See ya."

She waved as she entered the building, leaving Shine alone once more.


	17. Ambrette's Diners

Shine headed back home to the apartment, and cooled himself as he laid down in a shady spot. It had turned quiet without Curio, a silence he could've done with after his argument with her. The breeze came in lightly through the window. The clock ticked in the background. It would be a couple more hours until Tony came back home. To pass the time, he thought he'd check the network for any new messages, and he clicked in silence. Nothing new from Barley or anyone else. Shine entertained the idea of sending him a message instead, just to say hello, but as he stared at the blank text box, he might as well have been mute as no words could escape his lips. He abandoned the idea and went back to his usual pastime, getting a fantasy book out from his makeshift shelf and picking a spot in the indoor shade to continue where he left off. Sometimes, it was nice to escape into a completely different world, after all.

He read on and on. The ticking of the clock grew louder. Shine fidgeted in his sitting spot. All the while, there was that lingering feeling of dread, not from forgetting something, but rather, missing something. He glanced at the clock. Only half an hour had passed. He wondered if the clock was fast or slow. Then he shook his head.

This wasn't an unusual day for him to be on his own, and sometimes, that's all he wanted, to be alone, but after spending time with Curio for so long just to be left to his lonesome again, Shine felt at a loss for himself. He stopped reading and paced around the room, figuring out what he should do. The treatment of her arm wouldn't be for a few hours or so. Then he looked to the front door. If all he was going to do was wait for time to pass, he might as well do it where there were people, and where he had a purpose to waiting rather than lounging around the house all day. It was decided. He carried the book in his mouth and left through the flap.

He continued reading once he got to the waiting area of the Pokémon centre. Even though he did basically the same thing as he did in the comfort of his own home, time seemed to pass much quicker than in lonely silence. Plus, having people and Pokémon to listen in on every once a while gave him a sense of belonging, even though he came on his own.

Shine read 210 pages of his book before a paw prodded his side. He looked up and there Curio was, holding her paw up to him as if she hadn't broken it moments ago.

"Is everything alright, now?" Shine said.

"Yup!" Curio said, "Good as new! So now whaddo we do?"

"Let's see..." Shine glanced at the big clock in the centre, and stood up. "Tony should be back by now, actually. If you have nowhere else to go, you can have dinner with us."

"Please. What's on the menu for today?"

"Steak."

"Ooh, awesome!" Curio rubbed her paws together.

"If you're polite, I'm sure Tony will let you have some."

Curio nodded. "I will!"

Shine picked his book up and headed outside with Curio, as they walked in the light of the orange sky. They got short of entering Tony's apartment again when Shine spat his book out.

"Can you wait here so I can speak to Tony quickly? I promise I won't be very long."

"Go right ahead."

Shine headed through the flap once more, taking the book back first, then joining Tony as he rested on the couch.

"Hello," Shine said, "Hope you didn't have too much trouble rushing into work."

"It's fine," Tony said, smiling as he put his arm around Shine, "I got there just in time, but still, I don't know what the hell happened back then."

Shine simply purred, mostly because Tony was stroking that one spot in his side that made him weak every-time he did so, but partly because he didn't want to say anything about who was responsible, yet.

"How's Curio?" Tony said, taking his hand off.

"Oh, yes, she's fine. Listen," Shine sat up, looking his trainer in the eye, "Do you mind if she joins us for dinner tonight? I know it might be a bit of a tall order considering, well, you know."

Tony nodded. "I don't mind. I did get one too many steaks so that will save that going to waste. Where is she anyway?"

"She's waiting outside. Can I let her in now?"

"Of course."

Shine leapt off the seat and stood on his hind-legs to pull the door open. There, Curio was waiting outside, facing the seaside view as her legs poked out of the railing. Her ears perked up and she craned her neck towards Shine.

"Is it cool to come in now?" she said, to which, Shine nodded. Curio stood up and came in with him to the living room. When she locked eyes with Tony, he smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. A moment passed. The clock still ticked.

"Ahem," Shine said, "I believe Curio wants to say something to you."

"Oh, do I?" Curio said, laughing nervously, "Um, what is there to say?"

Shine nudged her leg, giving her a pointed look.

"Right." She clasped her paws together. "Tony, I'm sorry for the trouble I caused today. I planted that bucket outside your house. I didn't mean anythin' by it, I was just messin' with you, that's all."

Tony raised an eyebrow at her.

"And," Curio continued, "I'm sorry for actin' like an ass last night too. And calling your place a shithole. It's a very nice place, actually."

To diffuse the tension, Tony smirked and batted a hand at her.

"It's alright. Everything turned out fine in the end, so no need to worry." He shielded his mouth with his hand. "It's actually kind of funny, looking back on it."

"So," Curio said, putting a paw on her hip, "You're not mad or anythin'?"

He shook his head. "Don't see any reason to be now."

"Oh, come on!" Curio pointed at him. "After all that, you're still not gonna put up a fight? Say something! Anything!"

"Curio," Shine said, giving her a severe look, "Why are you behaving like this?"

"I just don't get it! How he's still letting me into his house is beyond me. Like, what part of his brain is missing to make him actually give a damn? Why-"

Curio stopped. Tony had stood up and was approaching her. She took a step back, putting her metallic hand on her spiked chest, and looked away.

"Curio," Tony said, "Please look at me."

She complied. Shine stood beside her, and saw Tony's confident gaze: he wasn't without scorn, but he looked relaxed as well.

"I will be honest, I wasn't expecting you to react the way you did last night, and you could've handled it a lot better than you did. If this was anybody else, I would've told them to get the hell off of my property."

"Why keep me here at all then?" she said, pouting.

"Because I want to help you. You and Shine both went through a lot of trouble to get here, and after being apart from each other for so long, I can see you're conflicted. This doesn't excuse your behaviour, but I understand what you're going through."

She glowered at him. "No you don't. How could you get anything us Pokémon go through? You never had to fend for yourself in the wild without anyone to help you."

Tony shook his head. "You know, Shine said the same thing at one point, didn't you?"

Shine nodded.

"And you're right," Tony continued, "I'm not a Pokémon. I will never know what it means to be one either. But I've helped out quite a few marine Pokémon in my career, and believe me, I've seen how harsh the world is at sea. And, having known Shine all this time, I can relate to what he's been through, at least. This is why I started this documentary in the first place, to know him better. And I hope I can get to know you better too, someday. So," Tony held out a hand towards her, "Are we alright now?"

Curio's mouth opened. She stared at the hand for a moment, the breeze still blowing from the window. Then, she gazed at Tony and smiled.

"Yeah," she shook his hand, "Sure."

They released their handshake. After that, Tony slowly raised a hand to her chin, eyes relaxed.

"May I?"

Curio didn't respond. Instead, she guided his hand up there and let him stroke that area, panting all the while. Shine looked on, smiling at the sight. Then, she pulled Tony's hand away from her.

"Okay, that's enough," she said. "At least take me out to dinner, first."

"I like your attitude," Tony said, snickering as he headed towards the kitchen; the two following behind him. He started to reach inside the cupboards for the dishes.

"We're having steak, if you're still up for it."

"Shine told me, yeah. I could murder a Miltank, actually."

"Good to hear. Can I fix you a drink to go along with it?"

"Eh, surprise me."

"Alright."

Curio watched him prop the plates on the counter, before prodding his shoulder.

"Is there anythin' I can do to make it up to you after all this?"

"Well," Tony said, stroking his stubble, "I'm fine at the moment, but if you want to do me a favour, you can clean the dishes after dinner."

Curio scrunched her nose.

"Aw, really?"

"Is that a problem?"

"No," Curio said, looking down to both hand and paw, "I can do that, but making a Pokémon do this?"

"I don't see why not. Shine does his share of work around the house wherever possible, don't you?"

Shine nodded. "I'm able to do the floors, at least."

"Alright, alright," Curio said, rubbing the back of her head, "I'll do it."

"Thank you." Tony smiled and gestured to the couch. "You can wait in the living room if you want."

Curio nodded and sat with Shine together while Tony was busy preparing dinner. The two didn't talk much, only idly about what Curio got up to in the Pokémon centre, but for the most part, they sat silently in each other's embrace, eventually dozing off together as they took up all the space on the couch.

"Dinner!"

Tony's voice called from the other room, and the two jumped off the seat to head to the dining area. On the table, there were three plates worth of steaks with cheese topped potatoes, accustomed to each diner's liking. Both Pokémon and trainer ate as quietly as possible, while Curio tore into hers, still using the cutlery but by all means, making somewhat of a mess on the table after she was done. Curio groaned, reclining in her seat while she watched the two still go halfway through theirs.

"That was the tits," Curio said, "Thanks Tony."

"You're welcome," he said in the midst of slicing his own steak.

"So, I was wonderin', since me and Shine went near the place you work at and stuff, what's up with that Primarina?"

Tony put his cutlery down and stared at the two.

"Uh, how do you know about that?"

"My aura," Curio said, pointing to herself, "Duh. Plus, Shine can see through walls and stuff."

"Yeah, I guess it was bound to come out sooner or later. But," Tony wrung his hands together, "It was supposed to be kept a secret."

"And why is that?"

"Well, we're treating it at the moment, so unless we can get to the bottom of what's wrong with it, it shouldn't be revealed to the public."

Curio frowned. "Again, why? You're being kinda vague here."

"Yeah," Tony said, rubbing his head, "Unfortunately, that's for its own protection. If people find out an Alolan Pokémon got washed up here, we'll be hounded with questions from the press, and we don't want that until it's able to make a full recovery. You get me?"

Curio shrugged and muttered a reply.

"So," Shine said, "What happened to it?"

"In the morning on the day you left, it washed by the cove with a hole in its back." Tony formed a circle with his hand the size of a golf ball. "We were surprised it didn't die due to blood loss or hypothermia, but as soon as we saw it, we wheeled it into surgery. It's fine now, but it's been unconscious ever since."

Shine eyed his own plate. "I see."

"But," Tony said, skewering a cutlet with his fork and pointing it at the two, turning their attention to him, "That's where you lot might come in handy, if you're up for it. Once it wakes up, you can relay what happened to us."

"Will they mind, since it was supposed to be private?" Shine said, to which, Tony shook his head.

"It's a bit too late for it now, I think. As long as you don't tell anyone else, they'll be willing to take you on board. Can I trust you both to keep it a secret?"

The two nodded.

"Alright then." Tony chomped on his mouthful of beef. "Leth finith up and we can thtarth the intherthiew."

After the two finished their dinner, Curio took several trips back and forth from the dining area to the kitchen and started work on cleaning as Shine supervised, whilst Tony was setting up the studio again. She glared at the row of unclean dishes, including a pan that had turned black with grease, and turned to Shine.

"Okay, how do I do this again?"

"Just fill up the basin with warm soapy water and scrub away."

She did her duties without much of an issue, although it took some getting used to at first since Curio scrubbed with her artificial hand, whose grip probably could've crushed a Geodude if given permission. She ended up breaking one or two plates and a glass on the way, but Shine assured her it was no skin off Tony's nose. He observed the way she interacted with everything as if it was some alien artefact, staring at the tap for one minute before Shine had to remind her water came from there. He briefly wondered if she had ever grown accustomed to domestic life at some point after her escape, but after all was said and done, the two got back to Tony's studio and Curio sat in her usual spot on the interviewee's couch. Like before, Shine sat with Tony as his trainer powered up the camera and prepared his notes.

"So, all ready?"

"Hell yeah," Curio said with a smile. Tony counted down and hit the REC button.

"This is interview B, segment GeL, take one. After you came along with Azzy and Mackenzie, you were taken to the facility Gestalt Learning, or GeL for short. How long did you stay there for?"

Curio gave him a sour look.

"Don't you know this already?"

"Yes, but just tell me as if I didn't, for the uninformed viewer."

"But we aren't-" Curio stopped, then shrugged. "Whatever. I stayed there for four years and a bit. I was meant to stay for five, but..." Her voice trailed off and she sighed. "Something happened. I'd rather not talk about that yet."

"Understandable. So, what was the purpose of the facility?"

"Well, it was meant to be what school is to you humans. They not only trained us in every way imaginable, they also taught us a lot about the world and best of all, how to speak. If everything went as planned, they were gonna take us to this scientific convention thingy, and set us up for whatever jobs we pleased."

"So, what would you say it was like, in general?"

Curio smiled.

"To be honest, and this will sound weird, but I had a great time there, at first. I got to meet other Pokémon, we had fun when we were able to, and I got a lot of support from the staff. Seriously though, I don't know how I'd stand livin' as a Pokemon if I didn't learn all the stuff I did back there."

"But," Tony said, looking to his right side, "What about your arm?"

In response, she clutched it and grimaced.

"Next question."

"Alright, understandable. So when you arrived, before the lessons started, what was your first day like?"

"First day, hmm." Curio held up one digit. "Yeah, you know what they say about first days, right? I guess for you humans, it would be like going to your first day of school. Of course, I can't speak like I'm an expert on it, I mean, look at me, but I've been coached enough about the world and seen enough flicks to guess what it's like.

"Picture yourself as the snot-nosed kid, for instance, who's just turned old enough to wipe his own ass. His parents send him off to regular school, or trainer school or whatever you humans usually go to, and after they get out of their car and send you off, it feels like you're never gonna see 'em again. But you leave anyway and go into the school building cause you want to see where the day takes you. You're excited to learn, so you think, what's the worst that could happen? Then, as soon as you step into that classroom, that's when it hits you. You've got kids with many different egos and tempers coming together, some that come from the same sheltered background as you, and others that have been through worse and won't take any of your crap. Imagine them coming together in the same room with no one to guide you, and you realise it's the first time you've ever been alone in the world.

"I guess that pretty much went the same way here, except those kids were actually monsters that could probably burn your face to a crisp. But hey, everyone, kid or Pokémon has to start some way, you know?"


	18. First Day's Daze

Having grown up on the island, especially as Spring came in, I got to see a lot of colours. Blue, green, yellow, brown, more blue, for my family of course, and all the different mixtures of it you could see in the sky. Since I saw those same colours for so long, I was startled whenever something unnatural came onto the island, like a metallic boat, for instance.

Now take that and apply it to an entire room coated in grey, with only bright red lights to illuminate anything. That's where I found myself the first thing after I got out of the Pokeball. A chill ran through my spine all the way to my tail. I span around in a circle, trying to make sense of the room, which was spacious, but felt completely closed off as there were no passages outside as far as I could see. I turned to see Azzy and Mackenzie, which soothed those jitters, but found them coming back when I realised I was still in that darkly lit room.

"What is this?" I said.

"We're in the quarantine bay at the moment."

"Quarantine?"

"Yeah, just to make sure you're clean of anything that could contaminate the rest."

I stared at my feet. Being little dumb me, not knowing what 'quarantine' or 'contamination' meant, it didn't put me at ease. Then, Azzy's round paw grabbed mine, and he smiled.

"There's no need to be scared, it will be done soon. I'll hold your hand the whole way through, okay?"

I glanced at Mackenzie briefly, who was in the same chamber as us. My heart still pounded. But if another Pokemon or a human was in the same boat as me, it let me know I wasn't alone in this situation. I squeezed his paw tightly and kept close to him. Even when the beeping made me squirm, I still didn't let go. It kept on beeping. Beeping still. Then, gas came in from a series of vents somewhere, soon enveloping the whole room in a fog where it blanketed the towering human's face, and eventually, Azzy's as well, to the point where I couldn't see his paw. I felt it, so that was what mattered. The gas, however, seemed to fill up all the air in the room. Just a moment later, my breaths got more ragged as I inhaled more of it, and my heart beeped faster. I thought my lungs would collapse or something. I squeezed his paw tighter, so much so that it felt like I was crushing it, but it was either that or go balls to the wall and start screaming. After a moment, my breathing got back to normal and something sucked out all the gas that came in. Eventually, I could see their faces again. I let go of his paw and collapsed. Thankfully, he caught me before I could get acquianted with the ground, and he embraced me, patting me on the back, repeating the fact that I did a good job. If standing around meant doing a good job, I dunno what doing a bad job would entail.

Anyway, I soon forgot about what had happened as he soothed me back to normalcy. Then, a gate opened, letting white light into the room. I thought it was coming from outdoors. In an attempt to get out of that greyer than grey room, I dashed to the entrance as Azzy and co. ran after me. Instead of finding the great outdoors, what I found was another cold looking room. It was white, which was an improvement to the depressing grey, but it wasn't warm like the clouds, but cold like, well, an empty void. It was as featureless as the last room, but more cramped as it was a hallway with people in white suits lined up in a row. Again, there was no exit in sight at the end. I turned to the duo, holding my chest, and Azzy came to take my paw again.

"It will be fine, just do as they say and you'll be able to relax afterwards."

I only nodded. I wasn't in the mood for arguing at that moment.

Azzy walked ahead of me, carrying me with him so he could approach the first strange face: a woman in an apron. She knelt down to my level and smiled.

 _"Come,"_ she said, as plainly as I could understand it. That was when Azzy released me. I turned to him, about to gesture for help when he patted me on the shoulder.

"It's alright, she'll just be taking you for a wash."

"But I'm already clean!" I said. I probably wasn't, considering showers were an alien concept to me back then, but I wanted a good excuse not to be taken away from the familiar Pokemon. He just nodded and guided my paw to the woman's hand, who took me down another hallway into a wetroom with a bath in it. Before I had the chance to consider what the purpose of it was, the woman closed the door behind me. That was the first time I started to panic that day. I ran to the door and banged on it, calling for Azzy's help, but of course, I was already there. I looked up and saw the knob. Seeing no other way out, I tried to jump to turn it, but my paw could barely scrape it. The woman picked me up from behind, and fearing the worst, I started kicking and screaming in her clutches, which of course, didn't work. She had a damn strong grip for a human, I must say. She lowered me into the bath, which I started to splash around in, but as soon as I adjusted to the warm sensation of the water, I stopped and sat still. Even though I was stuck in the unknown, that water had a soothing effect on me, and I forgot about what had happened soon enough.

Which reminds me, I went to a few hot springs after I got out, and god, that was nice. That sort of stuff, bathing in hot water, is supposed to calm your nerves, after all, although I can't remember why. I'm surprised I haven't seen any bathhouses since I got here in Kalos. Maybe we should look it up one day and find out.

Anyway, the woman started scrubbing me clean of all the grime I had accumulated before. I squirmed as she coursed the brushes through my coat, but unlike before, I didn't kick up a fuss. It was over before it even started, as she picked me back up and stood me up in a drying pod, which felt like G-force in my face. It got the job done quickly, and soon enough, she opened the door and chaperoned me back to the hallway where Azzy and co. waited. He took my paw again and proceeded to the next person in line: a man in a white coat, standing next to a gate.

 _"Go,"_ he said in the same plain manner. I looked at the gate in front of me. From what I know now, it must've been one of those scanners that detects broken bones, viruses, imbalances in your body, and anything else you can think of that might need treating. He must've been there to report it incase there was anything wrong with me. Since I had already been rubbed down by a total stranger, I didn't fear much worse, so I took a deep breath and walked through. It beeped once. Azzy joined me not long after, saying everything was clear and that there was nothing to worry about. Again, not much consolation, but an A for effort, I suppose. So he took my paw one more time and walked me over to the last person in line: another woman in a white coat, except she had equipment around her neck, probably a stethoscope or whatever you call it. She gestured to a seat low enough for me to sit on. I looked to Azzy.

"What does she want now?"

"Well." Azzy put another paw around me and rubbed my back. "She'll be here to give you some vaccines, to protect yourself from any diseases that might come go around. You'll need to be extra calm for this. Is that alright with you?"

I slowly nodded, not knowing where this was going. He let go, leaving me to take a seat. The woman boosted me up to her eye level. She gently held my paw, and retrieved something from a nearby desk that made my heart sink. It was a needle.

You know, nature has a funny way of telling you the sort of things you probably shouldn't mess with. Having lived with Lucario for my whole life up until that point, my parents, especially Dad hammered in the fact that not being careful around them would not end well with me. Of course, when someone tells you not to do something, you'll probably end up doing it anyway out of spite, so I drew my paw across it to test their theory out. I ended up having to nurse it for about a week afterwards. So in dumb man's terms, sharp thing equals bad.

Seeing the needlepoint gleam in the white light like that gave me an idea of how sharp it was. The woman squeezed my arm in an attempt to steady it and find a vein. That was the second time I panicked. Instead of simply running for it, my response was to claw her with my free paw. It tore through her sleeve and drew blood. She ended up dropping the needle. I fell off the seat and scrambled as far away from them as I could until I got to the other end of the hallway. Instead of finding salvation, I found security instead. They employed a Machamp as one of the guards, which already had an imposing presence without needing the two extra arms. He made short work of restraining me, and being the stronger of the two Pokemon in the tussle, I couldn't even move to struggle out of his grasp. He brought me to Azzy again, who looked at me apologetically.

"Sorry about that," he said, "We should've made sure it was alright before we startled you."

"What were you guys thinking?" I screamed, "You were plannin' to kill me this whole time? You're sick! Let me out! Let me out! Let..."

You get the gist of it. The needle had already set me off, and being pinned down by that towering hulk of muscle didn't help matters. Eventually, I must've tired myself out since I felt dizzy and I stopped speaking, although in their place, tears started to well up. Azzy looked to the Machamp and nodded, and he released me. Then, the Azumarill went to hug me while I sobbed in his shoulder.

"It's over," I said. Wow, looking back on it, I really was a drama queen, wasn't I?

"Listen," he whispered, "It's alright. We didn't lie to you. Unfortunately, we have to make sure you're as healthy as possible before coming in, and there's no other way to do it other than that. They need to put it in you otherwise you'll be sick, and you don't want that, do you?"

I muttered a reply that sounded vaguely like a 'no'.

"It will only take a few seconds if you calm down, and you'll barely notice it's there, only so much as a pinch."

I looked up at the woman I had scratched moments before. She was escorted to another room by the Machamp while another took her place, eyeing me with caution. A pang of guilt nestled in my gut.

"Oh no, what've I done?" I said.

"Not to worry," Azzy said, "It's our fault this happened, we should've expected you to react like that. She'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive," he said, patting my back, "Now take a seat. It'll be over before you know it."

I nodded and climbed up to the chair, where the replacement held her hand out to me and smiled. I couldn't help but look up, and I could see her eyes were relaxed, but still had an air of caution to it. I laid my paw out. She caressed it, turning it over to inspect it, then she marked the spot where the injection was supposed to be. She held the needle again, and I squirmed in my seat, but I saw her smile again and felt reassured once more. It would only be a few seconds, I told myself. I closed my eyes, letting my guard down for just those few seconds, and true to his word, I did feel a slight pinch. The woman patted me on the back with a gloved hand to let me know it was alright to go. I got out of the seat, back into the comfort of Azzy's embrace.

"Alright now?" he said. I just shrugged. It was done, so I wanted to get it out of my head as soon as possible.

To this day, needles still suck. I'd rather sit on a Pawniard's head than do that again.

Azzy led me to the last guy, who sat near the wall with some equipment beside him. I glanced at the black, three legged object and squinted.

"What's that thing?" I said.

"A camera," Azzy said, pointing to a spot opposite the man marked with an X, "He wants to take a photo of you."

"A photo?"

"Just go to that spot and smile, okay?" He gave a slight grin before leading me to that spot. The man fiddled with the camera, adjusting the settings or something. He was still going. Halfway through, he popped something out from the bottom and replaced it, which going by intuition now, was a battery. I thumped my paw. The door was right there where the four armed freak stood. Not knowing what anything was, I bit back the urge to just run for it again.

Eventually, the man held a finger up, getting my attention. I remembered what Azzy said, but then, I just felt they were wasting my time. So in the brief moment he put his finger on the shutter, I stuck my tongue out at him. The camera flashed.

He frowned at the camera and said something to Azzy I couldn't understand.

 _"Just let her off on this one,"_ Azzy said. He shrugged and gestured me to walk past, where Azzy joined me.

"What took him so long?" I said.

He muttered a response as we went to the the security door again where the Machamp stood, back from escorting the injured nurse out of the way, He leered down at me, crossing all four of his arms.

"You were damn lucky back then," he said, "Try another stunt like that inside and I won't be so easy on you."

Again, I simply nodded, feeling like I was shrinking under the presence of such an imposing Pokemon. He broke his gaze from me and smiled to Mackenzie.

 _"How many of 'em are left?"_ he spoke in the human tongue. I couldn't understand Mackenzie still, but whatever he said made Machamp raise an eyebrow.

 _"Huh. They're bringing somethin' like that here?"_

Mackenzie said something that sounded like 'yes'. Machamp shrugged.

 _"Never mind, not long to go, anyway. Right then."_ He smiled and fiddled with parts of the door before squeezing the handle. "Welcome aboard."

He opened the door, bringing the first flashes of colour into the previously bleak insides of the building. The walls were painted all sorts of colours, green, yellow, you name it, with all sorts of bright patterns adorning them. Both humans and Pokemon walked through the corridors, carrying themselves as if they had important business to take care of. Then, Azzy took my paw and walked me in alongside Mackenzie. The door closed behind us not long after.

"Well," Azzy said, "This is it. We'll show you around soon enough once you've met everybody."

I cocked my head slightly. "Everybody?"

"Yes. It'll be good to know all the Pokemon you'll be staying with, after all. So, are you ready?"

Butterfrees swarmed around in my stomach. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if I was ready to meet any more strangers yet. It sounds weird saying that now, considering I barely have a problem with it now. Hell, one motto I go by is that a stranger's just a friend you haven't met. I think I got that from a show, but I dunno. Anyway, considering all I had before then was my family, being dropped in to stay with Pokemon I hadn't met before was new to me. Then, I remembered how desperate I was to get off the island in order to meet new Pokemon, so I took a deep breath and told myself I was excited instead of nervous. I smiled at Azzy.

"Yeah, let's go."

Paw in paw, he led me through the various corridors of the place, each drenched in different colours, until I caught a glimpse of leaf green from behind a glass door. The excitement in my stomach worked itself up to my chest as we walked up. It opened for us, bringing a cool breeze into the stuffy building, and revealed a forest like area with many different trees forming a wall around the room. Well, room wasn't quite the right word. It felt so natural that it didn't feel like one at all. Hell, I couldn't even see the ceiling as that looked like the sky as well. I looked down and true to Azzy's word, there were many Pokemon of different colours doing various things in one spot. Some of them mingled with one another. Some swam in shallow ponds. There were also a few that were entirely on their own, one on land, sitting by itself, and one perched on a branch, Azzy patted my shoulder and smiled.

"These are most of the Pokemon you'll get to know. There will be more on the way. After we've got everybody in, we'll show you all around, alright?"

I nodded, and Azzy bowed before turning his back to me and heading towards the corridor again.

"Wait!" I called, getting his attention again. "Where're you going?"

"I have to take care of a few things, but I'll be back soon. Have fun."

With that, he walked away, and I looked to all the new faces, who stared back at me.

Okay, this might get a little confusing, so bear with me. There were a lot of Pokemon there I didn't exactly know the names of at the time, so for now, let's call them by their species names. I know Shine probably briefed you on who they were, but this is gonna be a headache for you if I rattle off everybody's life story one by one. We cool?

Anyway, the group of new Pokemon stared in silence. The forest-like area was strangely silent, only interrupted by the stray Starly that occasionally chirped from atop of the tree. Even the two Pokemon that swam, Buizel and Bidoof, rested their chins on the bank to look at me. I wasn't sure how to break the ice myself, that tingling sensensation churning my stomach. Then, mercifully, the Lickitung stepped forward.

"So you're our new arrival, huh?" he said, and walked up to give me his paw. "It's nice to meet you. I'm a Lickitung, although you can call me Basil."

Thankful to see another friendly face, I smiled and gave my paw to him as well. A moment passed. Then he gently took the other paw and shook ours together.

"You're usually supposed to shake it in return." Some of the other Pokemon chuckled in the background. I would've flushed red if I could.

"Sorry. I can't say I have a name either."

"It's no biggie," he said, "I'm sure we'll come up with one together at some point. Now, I'm sure everybody would like to get to know you, so why don't you tell us how you got here?"

"What, now?" I said.

"If you wouldn't mind."

Clearly, he had more experience than I did when it came to these situations. I glanced at the other Pokemon for a bit, who waited with anticipation. I didn't know if I should've told them what I was doing there, but I figured I had little else to do, so I might as well have embraced the moment. So I started telling them about my upbringing, to which, Buizel started splashing around in the pond, to the Bidoof's annoyance.

"Ooh, you lived on an island? Coooool!"

"Not really," I said, "It was kinda boring."

"How?" he said, cocking his head, "You had the sea all around you!"

I just shrugged and continued, getting to the point where I almost drowned and met Azzy.

"That was foolish," the Abra said, "Was it not?"

Before I had any sort of reaction, Basil held his paw up. "Now, now, let's keep it friendly, alright?"

Abra flicked a paw at him like the fopp he would turn out to be later. God, he was up his own ass all the time. You could barely get a word in without him sticking his snout into your business.

Anyway, I continued, up until the point Mom released me from the Pokeball Dad trapped me in and let me come here.

"Aw," Ponyta said, "Your Mom must've really cared for you."

"Well," I said, rubbing my head, "Yeah. Wouldn't yours?"

Ponyta shook her head. "I lost mine."

Those words hit me like a kick to the nads. Not that I have any, but still, what do you say to something like that? I know now that not all of us, if not most of us Pokemon didn't have the same lucky upbringing as I did, but back then, it was new to me. I wrung my paws together, trying to find something to say to reassure her. All that came out though was a simple "Oh." She didn't reply back.

"Smooth," Sneasel said. This time, Basil extended his large tongue and pelted him across the face with a lick. He grunted as he swiped the slobber off himself.

"I'm sure you'll understand that everyone came here due to all sorts of circumstances. Don't feel bad because yours is different from theirs."

I just nodded. I didn't really feel like talking much after that, so I sat down and stared at my feet. I remembered having a sinking feeling in my chest. Back home, I could've teased the hell out of my brothers with ease, but here, I was pretty much at the mercy of everyone else. Some seemed to have it worse than others, like Sneasel, who had several scars across his body, so I didn't want to imagine what he could've done to me if I pissed him off, especially with those claws of his. My gaze wandered off to the rest of the room, where I saw another Pokemon sitting by itself, away from the rest of the group. It seemed to stare off into space, watching nothing in particular. It was as small as me, except it had a smoother body. Since Basil was so welcoming to me before, I figured I'd go up to the lonely Pokemon to give them a helping hand too. I padded over to them slowly, making sure not to alert them, and stood behind their back.

"Hey," I said, "You alright?"

They slowly turned their head to me. I smiled, only for it to turn upside down when I actually saw his face. (I might as well say it's a he as I knew him later) His eyes stared through me, looking so wide, I swore they were about to pop out. Something about his stare in particular could've turned you to stone, probably literally. It was like he had some sort of curse. I caught a glimpse of the various purple splotches around his face before he turned his head back to the scenery, looking off into space again.

My heart was racing. I took a few paces back, only to run back to the gang and hug Basil, as I had no one else to latch onto.

"Hey there," he said, "What's wrong?"

"Wha-what the heck's with that guy?"

"Oh," Basil frowned, "I would just leave him be for now. I can tell he's been through a lot."

"He creeps me out," Sneasel said, "That's what he does."

I pulled away from Basil's embrace. "What is he, anyway?"

"Well," he said, "He's known as a Cubone. His type usually wears the skulls of their mothers on their head."

"What?" I said, practically white with shock. "Wha-why would they do that, that's so messed up!"

"They usually do it as a memento of those who've passed on." He turned his head to the Cubone from far away. "Why he doesn't have it is a mystery to us."

"Let's leave it that way," Sneasel said, "The less I know 'bout him, the better."

The conversation kind of dropped off from there, and we sat idly as we waited for the other Pokemon to come. I even swam in the pond alongside the two other Pokemon, which felt nice and shallow. Not as cold as the ocean was, if anything, it felt warm. Kind of like it was heated from underneath. Anyway, the first two to come was a Happiny and an Aipom, who Basil babysat as well, although they weren't as receptive to tell their stories as I was. They got on well besides that, and it didn't take long for them to settle in and play with each other. I just watched from the pond, still not feeling accustomed to Pokemon etiquette yet, if that's even a thing. Then lastly, a Shinx came along as well.

This is where you come into the picture, Shine. You know, it's kind of funny looking back at it now. I didn't know you as well as I do now, but my first impression of you wasn't that great to begin with. I saw you, limping your way to Basil, and when he tried to introduce himself to you, you started sobbing and sat in a spot on your own far from everybody else. I don't blame you for how you acted back then, as I'll talk about that at some point later, but when I saw you, crying out of the blue, it kind of reminded me of Stumpy and how he would start wailing out of the blue sometimes. Part of me felt annoyed, like I usually was around him whenever he had an outburst, but another part of me wanted to come towards you and hold you.

I was stuck between two boulders of thought and didn't know how to squeeze out, so I just sat and looked at you. You curled up into a ball and bathed in what seemed to be the sunlight. I swore I could've seen you glowing. Nevertheless, I watched until the other mediators came in, all sorts of evolved Pokemon, as well as Azzy, who gestured me to follow him. All of the Pokemon in the room flocked to their own mediators, even the solitary Pokemon like you, the Starly and that Cubone. Then they led us out of the room in single file, with Azzy taking my paw in his.

"Are we on tour now?" I asked.

"Yes, we'll walk you through all the areas in this building, and after we've had our meeting, we'll call it a day."

I followed the rest in a line as we were led through the various parts of the facility. Firstly, there were the classrooms, which we only got a small peek of since we wouldn't be needing to use them yet. I guess instead of the usual set up in human schools where you had desks and chairs to sit on, we had bean bags and cute little tables to sit around. It looked more like a place you'd sit all your stuffed toys for a tea party than somewhere you'd learn a bunch of useless trivia. Then there was the gym, filled with all sorts of equipment I didn't know the purpose of. The Machop in our group must've known what they were about since he was jumping for joy in that room. Then there was the library. Again, we only got a small peek inside there, a tall room that had a second floor with bookcases reaching the ceiling. They said it was off limits for the time being. Abra complained about it as he apparently knew how to read. He probably could've, but they said they would explain why later, so he just brushed it off and continued with the rest of us.

Then, the battle arena, where we got to spar and play fight with each other, which they would also explain later. I might as well skim through the rest as it was a lot to take in at once. The Lounge Room, Infirmary, Kitchen and Bathroom was next. You can probably guess what their purposes were. Then there were the offices, which again, were off limits. That's probably gonna sound quite redundant soon. And finally, there was the meeting hall, opened with a set of double doors unlike the rest. You know something's important when it has two doors instead of one, for whatever reason.

We were led in one line to our seats on one side of the room while the other was occupied. There were these guys in white coats, who looked at us with wide eyed interest. I felt my heart beating again, as their eyes tracked us all the way to our seats. I tried to ignore them, staring at the front while we waited. Everybody else around me was chatting amongst themselves. Once everybody settled in, Azzy sat beside me while the Shinx was in front, looking left to right. His mediator, an Manectric, nuzzled close to him, keeping him occupied. A part of me still wanted to reach out to him, but I decided against it. Everyone went silent as one member of staff spoke into the microphone, another mediator by his side.

"Everyone, may I have your attention please," he said, which I heard through the mediator's Pokemon tongue. "We'd like to thank you all for coming to this facility, man, woman and Pokemon alike, and we hope all of you will make the most of your time here. But I'll let the leader speak for himself, so may I present to you, our Director, Lawrence Cartwright, and Assistant Director, Lucy Labelle."

The two speakers stepped aside and held out a hand to the right of the stage. An old man propped himself up on his cane, walking slowly, but with determination in his walk. A Gardevoir floated closely behind him, strangely enough, wearing a frilled dress that flowed behind her. You know, for a Pokemon, she totally owned that look. I couldn't even imagine myself in a dress, let alone want to wear one.

The director's shoes clattered with each step he took on the hard floor, echoing throughout the room. Then, he stood up on top of the podium, his Gardevoir by his side, and a smile emerged from his wrinkled face.

"Humans and Pokemon alike," they spoke in their respective tongues, seemingly in perfect unison, "Welcome to our project, Gestalt Learning. We have brought you all here to take part in this experiment to contribute to a better society." The two of them held their hands up, as if shaping the whole world under their palms, "Imagine it. Human and Pokemon in league with one another. To perform the same tasks as one another. To change the world with one another. To create a better future with one another. We see so much potential with both of you, and sadly, we see that this potential is not being used." Their arms drooped, and they clasped their hands together. "For far too long, the trainer system has trapped everyone in this machine that only spins to create wealth for the rich at the expense of everyone else. Trainers go out into the expanding world at an early age only to be crushed under its weight. Pokemon are bound to these trainers for no other reason other than sustenance and a purpose in life. We have seen many tragic figures in our lives from both species; those who have had ambitions of becoming something greater, only to burn out without the means to stay lit. This machine traps everyone, and the only way to stop its machinations is to carve our own fates. That is why all of you are here."

They pointed at all of us in the room.

"All of you, humans and Pokemon are full of life and brimming with hope. You will all work with each other as equals, not as master and servant. For you humans, we will ensure you'll work closely with these Pokemon, and reward you dearly for your contributions to the future. You will be renowned all around in your respective fields of science. As for you Pokemon, we will accompany you every step of the way to make sure your talents are cultivated here. You will be able to achieve anything you set your mind to, and after your leave, you'll be able to put those skills into practice to travel the world, build a career, become famous, and anything else you will yourself to do. The choice is yours."

They put their arms down and joined hands. "For the next five years, we will do everything in our power to ensure your studies are fruitful. You will follow a programme that caters to your needs, as well as help you to make the most of your time here. As we are Gestalt Learning, we believe every part plays a fundamental role to your education. For now, however, we shall pass on the torch to our Class Coordinators." They bowed. The humans on the other side were the first to clap, Although I didn't know what use it did, I clapped along anyway, as the Pokemon they were able to did so, while the rest howled in the air.

Really, they could've said anything and I could've believed it. If they said it was possible to shoot rockets out of our arses, we probably would've tried to do it. Even though I didn't understand what half those words meant at the time (Because as we all know, you're smarter by default if you use big words in place of simpler ones), but there was something about the way they said them as well as their tones of voice that sold me on it. After all, I made the choice to go there, and I didn't regret it. For the most part.

Lucy, the Gardevoir helped the director leave the stage while another human/Pokemon duo entered. They didn't say a lot that was too important to rattle off at the top of my head, but basically, they ran down how the 5 years would be split up into different programmes, a mix of learning the same skills human children would be taught, including how to speak which was my main focus, and fighting, which would teach us how to defend ourselves as well as work with trainers if we chose to. Of course, there was the boring stuff like all the rules they went through. With each word uttered, I felt my head bobbing up and done, trying to keep my eyes open. Again, with the camera guy, they sure took their sweet time on pointless crap. Something squeezed my sides, jolting me awake.

"What the-"

I turned to see who was snickering from behind. It was an Aipom, who covered his mouth with his tail in an attempt to muffle his laughter.

"Hey," I whispered, "Keep your paws to yourself."

"Couldn't resist, sorry," he said, then narrowed his eyes. "Still, he doesn't shut up, does he?"

I shook my head. Although I didn't agree with his grabby nature, we found something else to share between us. He grinned and held out his paw-like tail to me.

"You seem cool. We can be friends, right?"

Other than Basil, he was the only Pokemon that gave me such a gesture that day, so I smiled back to him and offered a paw in return. He snatched it away and laughed once more before I just shrugged and turned back to the guy's lecture. That Aipom was a riot. Was.

Thankfully, the guy shut his trap and we were told to gather up into three groups of six. We would stay each other for the rest of our course there. There were those who came from trainers or lived in domestic areas. There were those who were born in GeL. And then, there was us, the wild urchins. There was me, the Ponyta, the Cubone, the Buizel, and the Aipom. Except someone was missing. When we were sorted, I asked one of the mediators why there were only five of us, only to be told the other member wasn't ready yet. You'll find out about that later.

After that, Azzy picked me up and we exited the hall in one neat line, going back to the kitchen area to be greeted with many different bowls and plates of food. Sandwiches, berries, meat pellets, you name it. I felt myself drool, as the rest probably did, and if you know anything about how Pokemon eat, provided you haven't been living beneath a bridge for all of your life, it was chaos in there. By the end of it, in the mess we made, we had eaten our fill, and were set to fall into a food coma not long after. After we were all done, we were led into the corridors again only to be broken off into our respective groups. Us wild Pokemon would be staying in the same garden we met everybody else in. When we got there, the ceiling was black instead of blue, filled with twinkling stars. Our mediators wished us good night and each of us found a spot to sleep in. I myself gathered a pile of leaves and curled up into it. I was slowly drifting away, sure to fall into slumber. Then I found myself on the island again, listening to one of Mom's stories with the rest. Trunks was there, listening intently. Stumpy was there, curling up against a tree. Twig was there, chewing on a twig. Figures. And Dad was probably somewhere hidden, listening in private. After her story was over, I went over to hug Mom, only to touch the air. I found myself in the garden again with a bunch of strangers.

I started crying. I didn't know why; I had never done something like that before. It was something Stumpy usually did, after all. But there I was, on my own, with a hole in my chest, feeling sorry for myself. It was dumb. But that's how I felt anyway, dumb. So that was what my first day at GeL was like.

So overall, not a bad start. Aside from the needles.


	19. Important Announcement: Rework

Hello, dear readers. I thought I'd announce this, since it's important and changes a lot about the fic I'm working on. The Curious and the Shiny has been well received by some for its varied cast of characters, its worldbuilding and the mystery elements at play in the story, but I feel this is held back by a very weak opening that undersells the potential of the rest of the fic, so I've been working on editing every chapter released so far (1-18) so I can give it a much-needed face-lift.

Chapter 1 will be the most heavily reworked, since the fic's major stumbling block is to do with the crucial starting paragraphs, which are confusing and dull. There's a new prologue added before that reworked opening scene, so that adds a more exciting opening hook, which I'll preview below:

* * *

The sunlit gravel burned all that walked across it, yet the Luxray dashed through. Even as his paws blistered from the bare dirt and his wounds burned with the intense heat in the air, he had to. His sensitive ear picked up the footsteps of his pursuers, chasing from ran towards the cityscapes ahead of him, where humans awaited, along with the promise of relief from his injuries, and afterwards, a normal life. Behind, though, was them. He didn't want to imagine what they had in store for him if they caught him.

The more he ran, the more he wheezed with exhaustion, and by the time he reached the junction where the roads from the other cities converged, he stopped to catch his breath. Cars, vehicles, trucks, all honking in cacophony. Humans. He ran alongside the asphalt, shouting to anyone that might've listened as he ran. Surely, one person must've seen his condition and stopped to help, but nobody did. They blitzed through the road, which even he couldn't catch up with in his faltering condition. Why did nobody notice him? His heart pumped. How far behind were those grunts?

In desperation, he flung himself into the highway, into the path of oncoming cars which swerved in different directions and blared furiously. Sense came back long enough for the Luxray to dodge out of the way out of the road, only for another car to come hurtling towards his way, and crashed into his side, sending him spinning towards the hot asphalt before rolling on his back. He groaned as dull pain spread through his stomach, as he tried to get a sense of how bad his injuries were. Then it struck him. He was about to die. There were so many questions, so many injustices left, and so many dreams waiting to be realised, all of which would be undone. He only hoped anyone listening might've heard his last words.

 _"P-please,"_ he croaked in human tongue, _"I, I wanna l-live. P-please, h-help."_

With the sun shining above him, his vision faded to black.

* * *

Not only that, some comments I've received have also highlighted the lack of investment towards Shine's quest to find Curio, since while he's shown to care a lot about her, since she isn't properly introduced to Chapter 3, that doesn't translate well to the reader caring about Curio.

Another thing that didn't come across so well is how much Shine is damaged by the trauma of the events at GeL (the circumstances of which will still be kept a mystery until later chapters), causing him to repress a lot of his memories there. Therefore, one other crucial change I'm making is that Shine doesn't remember much about Curio as before, as I've changed his quest from finding his old friend to gaining back his repressed memories by finding an old friend, and so, lots of details about her will be left more vague at the beginning.

By design, the reader would get to know Curio at the same time Shine is relearning parts of his past with her, which I think will make for more investment in that character.

This not only changes Chapter 1, but also changes a lot of the content to do with chapter 1-5, since introspection and dialogue often revolves around memories of Curio and Shine regretting leaving her behind at the facility. The rest will proceed as normal from there.

I'm also making minor changes to the chapters by fixing typos as well as cutting down on unnecessary words left in the previous drafts. In Chapter 7 alone, I managed to cut out 430 words just by going through it thoroughly.

The previous chapters will still be up on the sites I've posted them in, just for comparison's sake, but I'll be moving them to another story with an updated title.


End file.
